Corruption
by Herpalerp
Summary: When Team Core Tech goes missing, it's up to Alpha and the gang to find out where they went. But with strange new cores showing up at the fighting rings, they might be over there heads on this one.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: _When Team Core Tech goes missing, it's up to Alpha and the gang to find out where they went. But with strange new cores showing up at the fighting rings, they might be over there heads on this one._

So here we go. Strike Squad origins story! Safest to say that it's at the end of season 3.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _"Tell me Commander. How is my little search coming along?"_

 _The two stood there in her office. Papers scattered across her desk as she leaned against it, tapping her fingers against the top. Trey stood at attention in front of her, stomach in knots. He always felt that way whenever it was just him and her, knowing that one bad move or report would be the end of him._

 _"We still haven't found Jeredy yet," Trey said, immediately noticing her gaze narrow, "But with his son still looking for him, there's a good chance that we'll be able to use him. The last report from the lowlands tells that Chase Suno is close to finding him. It will only be a matter of time before we close in on him."_

 _"Perfect," she purred, "It's about time you showed some progress... How is my other search going? From the sound of it we'll need five of them."_

 _He stiffened again, looking down at the assorted papers in his hands. Most of them were files on soldiers who were in training at the moment, but at the bottom there were a few civilians that caught his attention in his search._

 _"Well... We have a few qualified soldiers here, but it might be a good idea to search outside of-"_

 _"Commander," she interrupted, voice laced with a serious tone, "We are not outsourcing for this! I don't care how much you think you need to! I refuse to get any civilians involved in this!"_

 _"Ma'am please," Trey said, "According to the reports of Chase Suno's group, we'll have a higher success rate if we find those who specify to the differences of each team member. It's hard to train troops for something like this anyway, given what little we know about monsuno as is."_

 _She turned to him, a sneer on her lips. He gulped, and cleared his throat._

 _"I... What I meant to say, was that we need to use the information that we have on Chase Suno's group to create the ultimate team. They are just kids after all. And you know what they say: fight fire with fire."_

 _She continued to glare at him, arms crossed. She started drumming her fingers against her arm._

 _"Do you even 'ave a plan on how you'll do this?" she asked, "You realize once they join S.T.O.R.M., they will never be allowed to leave."_

 _That was a cold hard fact. The secrets of monsuno that were too much for the public, and she would be damned to have those secrets be undone by a bunch of children. Especially ones like Chase Suno._

 _"I already have selected out a few choice candidates that will be able to handle it," Trey said, "I'm positive that they will be able to go through the training and become a great asset to us-"_

 _There was a knock at the door. Trey turned around, seeing a soldier opening it up. He saluted._

 _"Ma'am! New report on Chase Suno!" he said, "It seems that his friends were spotted in one of the jungle regions. Jon Ace has gone to apprehend him on your orders."_

 _She raised a brow, frowning deeply._

 _"... I didn't order Jon Ace. To go. Anywhere," she said slowly. The soldier stiffened. Trey knew what that look meant. She was either going to punish them both or she was going to make Jon pay. But with their luck, it would be both._

 _"W-Well. He just went there," the soldier stammered, "S-Should we track him-"_

 _"OF COURSE YOU SHOULD TRACK HIM!"_

 _The soldier hurried out of the room as soon as Charlemagne roared. The metal doors slammed behind them, leaving Trey with her again. He started to panic again as she started pacing around._

 _"Of course Jon Ace would be the one to betray me," she hissed, "I should've known he would. He never was very trustworthy..."_

 _She sighed, sitting back in her chair and laced her fingers together in front of her. She tapped her foot rapidly before looking up to Trey._

 _"... Alright Commander," she said, "You may proceed with your search for candidates. But know this. If this fails, Jon won't be the only one in trouble."_

 _He saluted, excusing himself out of the room. As soon as the doors were closed, he let out a sigh. Immediately he steeled himself, bringing up the files of civilians from the bottom of the pile. The names at the top of each of them._

HLP

Tango stretched her arms up, letting out a sigh when some of her bones cracked a little. She dropped them back to her lap with another sigh, looking out towards the ocean as the night sky loomed overhead. She could still hear the rest of them babbling as the last of the monsuno energy shipment was delivered into the core tech lab.

They all made a bet on who would be able to haul the most between Bravo and X-Ray, which left the other three standing around to cheer. The two were surprisingly neck and neck for a while until Bravo threw out his back (he really needed to stop overdoing it). By that point all but a few containers were in the warehouse, which was fine with her. That just meant more time to relax and look out to the scenery.

She looked over, seeing Bravo sitting there as he tried not to move too much.

"You really should go back inside the cloud hopper," she said. He laughed.

"And miss seeing the ocean again? No way!" he said, "Haven't seen waves this calm since the summer of the big storm. Makes me miss the simple life."

Tango raised a brow, guessing it was the pain meds that were making him drone on. Usually he was more tense, but he probably got rid of most of that during his little competition with X-Ray.

"Hey! Guys!" Kilo called out, "Orders from Trey! We got another mission!"

Tango and Bravo exchanged looks. She helped him up, the two going up into the cloud hopper.

They went over to the other three, who were standing by the screen for communication. It looked like Alpha was already talking to the lieutenant, who had a rather bored expression.

"-and make sure that you apprehend anyone that's suspicious," Trey said, "And try not to make a scene. The last thing we need is another 'Spin Go!' incident where everyone gets away."

"Sure thing!" Alpha saluted, the communication line going dead. He sighed, then turned to the rest of them, "Alright guys! Looks like we gotta head to the next city over for the underground investigations!"

"I thought Team Core Tech was on their way for that mission?" X-Ray said, pausing to think for a moment, "But then again, they tend to slack off a lot..."

"I'm sure they went for burgers or something as soon as their delivery was done," Kilo snickered. They each laughed, remembering the last time they went with Team Core Tech on a mission, which resulted with them almost destroying the local burger shop.

"Well. We're not going to do much standing here," Alpha said, going to the head of the ship, "C'mon guys, strap in!"

They all followed suit, hearing the engines hum to life and take off. Tango glanced out the window, watching the shores get farther away.

"So what's this investigation that they got going?" Kilo asked, leaning back in his seat. X-Ray pulled the file up on his screen.

"Looks like an underground fighting ring," he said, "mainly Eklipse. Since he's been apprehended though, along with Grandma Future, it's not clear who's still organizing them."

"Are you sure they're not just small fights?" Bravo asked. The teen with glasses, shook his head.

"Nope. Looks too professional. Big name criminals have been reported there. The file says that there was going to be another undercover mission with Team Core Tech leading," X-Ray said, then frowned, "No wonder Trey wants us to go. With Suno's crew in command they're bound to mess up from the start."

"They don't screw up that bad!" Tango defended. The three looked at her with curious expressions. Her cheeks heated up, turning away when they all gave her that knowing look.

"I-I mean. They did help us during the Mechanopolis mission..."

The other three made small noises of protest. Not that they could deny it. If it weren't for Team Core Tech on that mission, they would be in the hands of Eklipse being turned into experiments.

"Anyway," Alpha said, getting their attention as he steered the ship, "We have the location. So we'll do it stealth style. Bravo and Tango, you two stay with the ship in case Team Core Tech calls. Me, Kilo, and X-Ray will scope out the place. No engagement under any circumstances."

They all nodded. It was silent after that. Tango looked back out the window, already seeing their destination approaching. She stared further, faintly seeing the horizon against the darkened sky.

The ship landed without any trouble. They made sure to land it in one of the less occupied areas near a construction site. Alpha stood up, looking out the window before heading straight out the door without another word. Tango let out a sigh, leaning back into her seat.

"I guess we just wait right?" Bravo said, "Wanna brawl?"

She scoffed, "With your back thrown out? No way. The last thing I need is your pain on my conscious. Though it would be your fault."

Bravo laughed, then stood up. Tango raised a brow as he started stretching and cracking his back.

"Did you really think something like lifting a few containers would really be too much for me?" he asked, "I just got tired and figured the 'winner' could have the privilege of doing rest of the work."

Tango giggled. It looked like Bravo was spending too much time with Dax to come up with an excuse like that. She watched as he went over to X-Ray's seat, picking up the tablet from it. He held it up for the girl to see.

"Besides. I meant brawling like this," he said, turning it on. She smiled, cracking her knuckles. At least they could pass the time in a fun way.

HLP

Alpha cringed as his elbow brushed against one of the rusty pipes, continuing along through the vents. After surveying the area, they found that the fighting ring was taking place in one of the warehouses. Of course, that just meant there were two options for entry: go through the front or find another way in.

For this, they decided to go with the latter.

Which meant they were all currently going through the vents. It wasn't too difficult, and they ended up in the unoccupied second floor. The problem was that there was hardly a floor left for them to walk on. It _did_ show them the fighting ring, which was their aim anyway.

Cheers erupted below them, the first floor having a large dugout for the fights to take place as onlookers watched from above. Alpha made small motions to them to follow him, if only because they would have to be careful of walking on the rafters.

Two red monsuno were locked in a fierce battle, one of them finally throwing the other back into sparks. More cheers erupted as the man in the pit stepped forward to call his monsuno back. The victor laughed bombastically, calling his own back.

"Another win for the great Kaito!" a woman shouted on the first floor, standing in front of a board with tally marks on it. Immediately people started to shuffle towards her for more bets.

"So what do you think?" Kilo asked, "We pull back now? It's clear by the Eklipse cores that this is illegal."

"But we don't know who's in charge," Alpha said, watching as the muscly man named 'Kaito' whooped at the crowd, "And I doubt that guy down there has the brains to put up an operation like this. If anything, he's probably just the front man."

He turned to X-Ray, who was getting a better look through a pair of binoculars.

"I see a bunch of gang members. And a few big names from the S.T.O.R.M. black book," he said, then looked further around the ring, "And a few random nobodies. Doesn't even look like they're here to battle or bet."

Alpha nodded, looking back down. If they wanted to, they could call it in now, or they could try and apprehend one of the big names down there and question them instead. Anyone in S.T.O.R.M.'s black book was at least worth trying to get a hold of. And with the power they had in the monsuno world, they would know who was putting these fights together. Maybe if they were lucky, they would catch the one they needed.

"... Alright. I think I got it," he said, "X-Ray go watch the exit. Since you're the smallest you'll be able to crawl along the support beams more easily."

The teen gulped, shuddering a bit.

"Kilo. Go back outside and wait for X-Ray's signal. As soon as one of the bigger named people leave, we'll apprehend them. We can't cause a commotion and scare everyone off, otherwise we'll never get to the bottom of this."

The two nodded, and started to slowly make their way into position. Alpha huffed under his breath, still remembering what happened at the Spin Go! Tournament.

He sat back, folding his arms as another fighter came up, getting jeers from the crowd. It was a rather meek looking man who was carrying a red core. Kaito grinned, holding his own up as the woman started to signal everyone.

"Ready?" she shouted, "three rounds! Best fighter wins!"

The two pulled their arms back. She took the whistle around her neck, blowing it fiercely. The two fighters immediately jumped into action.

"Launch!"

The cores collided, two red monsuno bursting forward. Kaito's was some sort of creature with multiple blades sticking out while the other was a rather ragged looking lizard. Everyone erupted into cheers as Kaito's got a cheap hit in immediately. Alpha put a hand to his chin in thought. It was curious, if only because he recognized Kaito's monsuno as one from Grandma Future's men.

"Demon Strike!"

This didn't make any sense. Why would the fighting rings start up again? Sure they looked like simple street crimes right now, but with Grandma Future in custody, all of the monsuno fighters were scared off.

"Shock Flame!"

"Spikelash, Claw blades!"

Red sparks flashed below. Alpha leaned back into the shadows a little in case anyone bothered to look up. He continued to ponder on how these people were using Eklipse cores, especially with Klipse also held by S.T.O.R.M.. He couldn't be distributing cores. This had suspicious written all over it. Hopefully who ever they caught would be able to tell them something.

"Spikelash, finish it off!"

The large of the monsuno let out a roar as it brought it's bladed limbs down. The other monsuno whined, and fell back as it's body turned into sparks. Everyone started to cheer immediately. The woman made a signal that Kaito was the winner.

"Second round! Eight minutes to take out your opponent!" she shouted. Kaito cracked his neck stepping further into the ring.

" _Hold on. What're they doing?"_ X-Ray said in the communicator. Alpha jumped, forgetting about the device in his ear. He didn't respond, instead watching as the lanky man timidly walked further into the large arena. The woman held her hand up, preparing her whistle.

As soon as it went off, Kaito charged forward with a roar. He plowed right through the man without even taking a breath. All the man could do was yelp as he was tossed aside.

"Round two knockout!" the woman shouted, the crowd cheering even more as the smaller man laid sprawled out.

"It looks like they're doing more then just monsuno fights here," Alpha said, watching as everyone collected their bets. Kaito started to whoop the crowd again. He spotted one of the big named criminals start to leave.

"Kilo, X-Ray, get ready! I spot a three star leaving" he ordered. In their books, they ranked capture priority of criminals on a star scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most dangerous. Typically that was reserved for people like Klipse and Dr. Tallis who could destroy entire cities with ease.

X-Ray saw who he was talking about, and started crawling further onto one of the beams. It creaked, and Alpha sucked in a breath. He looked down, seeing everyone taking their winnings. At least they were efficiently distracted down there-

"I'll go next!"

Someone leapt into the arena, getting everyone's attention. Kaito raised a brow at the tanned girl in orange and black who stepped up with a grin.

"You might wanna go home kid. This is for the big leagues," he laughed, "Besides, I still have to wait for my core to recharge. Unless you wanna go straight to the user round!"

She hopped a few times, enthusiasm shining in her light blue eyes.

"Sure thing man. I can take you on!" she shouted, punching the air a few times. Kaito looked up to the ref, who was caught off guard for a moment.

"Uh- sure. Taking bets now!"

Immediately everyone poured their piles onto Kaito again. The large muscular man cracked his neck, punching his fists together.

"Alright then, kiddo. Let's see you back up your words!" he said. Alpha winced, already knowing that girl was in over her head.

'I should know,' he thought, remembering all the fights he got in while training for S.T.O.R.M.. 'Too many to count...'

The whistle was blown, and Kaito when charging ahead again. As soon as he got close however, the girl did a cartwheel to the side, steading herself with three quick steps backwards. Kaito turned back around, grinning widely.

"Let's see how long you last kid!" he said, bringing his fist up for a roundhouse. It collide loudly. Everyone was silent as the teen stood there, both arms held up against his fist in a block.

She didn't give him time to react, immediately taking his forearm in both hands and twisting it around. His body automatically flew back as his joints locked, slamming to the ground with a gasp.

The crowd let out small sounds of shock as she quickly stepped back again, still hopping up and down as Kaito groaned.

"C'mon man! Let's go!" she said, smile still plastered on her lips. He grunted as he got back up.

"Caught me off guard. Haven't had an opponent like you in a while," he huffed, then brought his fists up again, "Guess I'll have to take you seriously!"

The two started to circle around each other slowly, their stances changing. Alpha found himself drawn into the fighting. He wasn't the one who specialized in hand to hand combat (that was Bravo), but this still made him excited as he watched. Something about the raw power that a person could harness was interesting to see in fights.

'It's not all about strength though,' Alpha grinned to himself, realizing what she was doing. Fighting, as he had come to learn, was more about strength. Especially after getting properly trained, it becomes more about assessing the enemy. Understanding and analyzing the necessities to take them down.

That was his main role he had as Chase's rival after all.

Suddenly, Kaito started throwing quick jabs, knowing not to put his whole body in each swing this time. She dodged every blow, keeping her fists close as he forced her backwards. Everyone started leaning closer as they edged to the end of the arena. Kaito grinned, throwing a large punch when they were only a foot away from the wall.

"Gotcha kid!"

His fist flew forward, shaking dust into the air as the wall shook. He grinned, but stopped when he saw that he only hit the wall. His eyes trailed down, seeing the teen bent backwards. She looked up with a grin.

Before he could react, she kicked up with both feet straight into his jaw. He fell backwards again.

The crowd was quiet, waiting for the champion to get up. The girl shook the dust from her short, light blue hair. Finally, Kaito let out a gasp, cradling his face with one hand as he looked up with a glare.

"C'mon! Let's go-I can go all night!" she started rambling, hitting the air some more.

Kaito snapped his jaw back into place (Alpha shuddered at the noise), and stood up with a huff. He snarled, and held up his core, now fully charged.

"How about we settle this way?" he said, "I'll gladly give you this round. But it's double or nothing on this next one! Unless you're scared to take on a monsuno!"

"Nope! Not at all!" she said, holding up a core. Alpha saw a flash of orange.

"Hold on guys," he said, "Forge Resistance are the only ones with orange cores right?"

" _Yeah. The machine-hybrid monsuno_ ," X-Ray said.

 _"But no one else should have them,_ " Kilo joined in, " _Reports show there are only five in the resistance, including Tallis."_

Kaito signaled the ref, who blinked a few times before blowing her whistle.

"Uh- Second Round! Monsuno round!"

The two went back their separate ends of the ring. She was still hopping back and forth on each foot, though her expression was more serious now. The rest of the crowd were now shuffling their bets around, now putting some on the newcomer (though a good chunk was still on the champion.

"Alright then kiddo, let's go!" he said, holding up the red core from before.

If someone was also getting a hold of Forge Cores, then it looked like this operation did need back up. Alpha grinned to himself at the thought of being able to take both organizations on and bring them in.

(He could rub it in Chase's smug face when they get back!)

He leaned closer to the edge, watching as the two fighters pulled their arms back. The ref brought the whistle close for the signal.

HLP

"Yeah! Another win!" Bravo said, throwing his arms up. Tango laughed.

"You mean your second win," she said, leaning back. The two of them had been waiting patiently for word from the others, just in case they needed back up, but so far everything had been quiet. Not even anything from Cloud Carrier I, "I guess we gotta do a tiebreaker round-"

The communication line suddenly started going off. The two of them looked over towards the screen, seeing the red button blinking. They exchanged looks before going over.

Tango pressed the button, watching the screen come alive with static. The two waited for an image to show up, but nothing appeared. She raised a brow, twisting some of the knobs in hopes that it was just an error.

"Look," Bravo said. An image was slowly coming into focus. They watched, waiting as a voice came through the static.

 _"... Th... A... Anyone..."_

Tango gasped, recognizing the voice. She started to hurry at trying to get the signal clearer. Eventually, the static cleared enough for them to see someone.

"Bren? Can you hear me?" Tango said, static still making the image fuzzy.

 _"Hello? Is anyone out there?"_ Bren said, voice going in and out, _"There's..."_

More static getting in the way. Tango tapped at the keys some more, trying to steady the signal. "Bren? Hello?"

"Yeah geek can you hear us yet?" Bravo added, getting a slap to the chest. Tango leered at him, before hearing some muffled shouts come from the screen.

The image got more obscured. But they both could make out some sort of explosion in the background, along with a roaring noise.

"Bren? What's happening?" Tango asked, frantically pushing at the buttons.

"... _He... Anyone...?... There's a..."_

His voice was disjointed, coming in and out of the static. But they couldn't make any sense of it.

" _Monsuno... They're... Oph..."_

Eventually, the static died, the signal being lost. The two looked to each other, wondering what that last message was supposed to mean. But in the pit of her stomach, Tango knew that it couldn't be good.

* * *

A/N: I'll be better at trying to update for this (hopefully, let's cross our fingers)

Review Review Review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks to paperchickadees, monsuno power, and saturns moon for the reviews! This chapter is a bit late, as I am trying to have this be updated every friday. Also it should go without saying that this is a separate continuity from my other fics, so this is just after season 3 (maybe after a month or so).

Enjoy!

* * *

 _A whistle resounded in the air, along with a few shouts._

 _The field had a pristine coat of paint applied to the lines as a man mowed the grass noisily. On the completed half was a high school team doing drills. The coaches continued to shout orders around after every play, signaling the attempts that the players had kept failing._

 _Two sat in the stands, watching the group from afar._

 _Trey tried not to fidget. Not because of who he was with, but because being here reminded him of the time he was in high school. Of course, he went straight into the academy for S.T.O.R.M. afterwards, which was both a blessing and a curse. The time of high school, however, was such a simple time, that the memories suddenly made him hesitant on this idea of recruiting civilians._

 _But if Chase Suno's group were to be stopped, then this was the path that they needed to take._

 _"... And you're sure that's what it'll be?"_

 _Trey turned to the teen that spoke up, who was still watching the group with an intense stare._

 _"You're sure that's what the job is about? That this... S.T.O.R.M. place isn't just the local patrol and that there's more out there?"_

 _The commander nodded, looking back out to the field. The afternoon sun was starting to get lower, creeping towards the horizon as the sky grew orange._

 _"Believe me, it's real. And more then you can probably handle," he said, "But. There's a reason that I came out here to find you. I had a feeling that you would be an excellent asset to the team we're forming. That's something you've done from the look of it. Teamwork."_

 _The teen laughed, tipping his cap down lower._

 _"Looked at my transcript did you? Makes sense I suppose," he sighed, watching his teammates continue playing,"... Why should I risk it though? I got a full ride for college coming my way in a few years if I play my cards right."_

 _One of the coaches blew their whistle. The team immediately started to head off towards the locker rooms, giving a few hollers. Soon, they were left in silence._

 _"Are you really wanting to wait that long though?" Trey asked, remembering the things that were written in the file about this student, "S.T.O.R.M. can give you everything and more if you decide to join. Right now. And if you want we can start forwarding your family money now if that's what you want. Why wait for college when you can go straight into work?"_

 _The teen paused drumming his fingers against the bleacher seat. He turned back to the commander._

 _"What's the catch though?" he asked, "You told me what S.T.O.R.M. does, and about these... Monsuno. But you never said what_ I _would be doing. And there's no way you would be so eager as to just hire some random kid with all that man power already at your disposal. So, what's the real reason you need me?"_

 _Trey sighed. The kid was perceptive. Good._

 _"Well. There's a group out there like you," he said, "A group of teens that have been disrupting peace. The commandant wants them eliminated, but they're getting stronger."_

 _The teen hummed, "So its a fight fire with fire thing right?"_

 _Trey nodded, "Yep. And while I have a leader already chosen from the S.T.O.R.M. academy, we need a full team to take them on. And I'd like you to be on that team Ruben."_

 _The sun had set, the moon already shining overhead. Trey leaned back in his seat staring up at the darkening sky. With the field cleared, he stood up and signaled the dark-skinned teen to follow him. Hesitantly, he did._

 _When they got down to the field, everyone had left, including the one who was mowing the field. Trey still waited, wanting to be absolutely sure that no one would see. He tightened his grip on the core in his hand._

 _"... Well? What was it that you wanted to show me?" The teen asked, "You better not be joking, cause if you made me miss a whole practice-"_

 _"Riccoshot, launch!"_

 _The core slid along towards the goal post, clattering loudly, and letting loose the light within._

 _Riccoshot appeared, huffing deeply as it shook the ground. Trey signaled it to stand down, knowing that someone could be in earshot. He turned back around, the teen standing there awe struck with both horror and fascination._

 _"It's not just some made up story," Trey said, holding the core up. Riccoshot came closer, its steps shaking the earth, "Monsuno are something to be controlled. Something that needs to be kept away from the public. That is our job. And that's what your job will be."_

 _The commander took a core from his pocket, holding it up for the other to see. The teen's eyes lit up immediately, as if entranced by the energy inside._

 _Riccoshot let out a blast towards the sky, lighting up the sky with sparks. Trey held its core up, the monsuno retreating back into energy and inside the metal holder. He held it for a moment, still feeling somewhat hesitant now. But after what he said to Charlemagne, he couldn't back down now._

 _"So. Will you do it?" Trey asked, then held out the other core, "It could all be yours. Money. A reliable team. A partner who you can entrust your life to. If that's what you-"_

 _The teen immediately stuffing his hands in his jacket pocket and walking in the other direction. Not saying another word._

 _"H-Hold on!" Trey said, standing up and grabbing the core, "Are you seriously not going to at least consider my offer?"_

 _The teen stopped, the shouts of the high school students in the distance, probably alerted by the sparks that had flashed in the air just moments ago. Trey would have to hurry lest he get caught._

 _"It's a good offer, but it's not for me," the teen said, 'I've got more important things to consider than my own fate in that organization of yours."_

 _Trey sighed, feeling Warwing's core vibrate a little. As if it didn't want that teen to leave it behind. He gripped it tighter, knowing that he needed to get this kid to accept. (Especially since the commandant would skin him alive for showing a monsuno to a civilian without any results of recruitment!)_

 _"You can't just turn you're back like this... This kind of offer doesn't come ever day! You were meant to have it," Trey shouted, "You need to-Don't you believe in destiny?"_

 _The noise started to get distant. The players most likely heading back towards the school as one of the buses drove up. The teen continued to walk away._

 _"If that were the case, I'd rather stay here," he said, "I'm the type of guy to laugh in the face of destiny."_

HLP

He stared up at the sky, watching the clouds cover the full moon briefly before clearing again. The area was silent, not a single soul around besides the ones inside the warehouse. Just behind the closed doors the cheers could be heard from the crowds. The distant sound was reminiscent of when he would be waiting before a game with his teammates, ready to rush out to victory.

"Hey. Alpha," Kilo said into the communicator, "Is that three star on their way yet?"

He waited for a response, tapping his foot on the ground. Patience wasn't one of his strong suits. Still, he was getting better at waiting ever since meeting his supposed rival from Team Core Tech.

Though the initial meeting between them and the Strike Squad didn't exactly pave a smooth road for teamwork, both groups had slowly started to gain more common ground.

(it also helped that Charlemagne wasn't threatening to throw them in prison if they failed every single day)

A loud 'BANG!' from inside the warehouse.

Kilo jumped, feeling the wall he was leaning against shake. He took a step back, waiting for another sign.

He really hoped that the other two weren't the cause of it. Otherwise they could be in some real trouble.

(No doubt Suno was rubbing off of Alpha the wrong way).

The door swung open, the crowds of people now trying their best to pile out as fast as they could. Kilo took a few steps back towards the shadows, not wanting to be spotted.

"Hey! Guys! What's going on?" he said into the communicator. It was still silent. He grit his teeth a little, deciding to climb back up to the second floor. Despite all the potential suspects that were running out and away from their reach, he needed to make sure his teammates were alright.

It didn't take Kilo very long to get back up to the second floor, though he could hardly see where to go. Smoke had filled the room as it shook, blasts from monsuno going off into different directions.

"Alpha? X-Ray?" he shouted, knowing that now wasn't the time for stealth. He took a few cautious steps forward, only to have the floorboards collapse under his feet.

Kilo let out a surprised shout, quickly relying on his reflexes as he grabbed onto the support beam. It held fast, but only just. He glanced down briefly to see a red monsuno letting out a roar as a dark smoke surrounded it. Gritting his teeth, Kilo managed to haul himself back up.

"Kilo!"

He looked over to see X-Ray making his way back over.

"What happened?"

The teen with glasses gave him a baffled look, "I have no clue! I was waiting for Alpha's signal when something happened in the arena. We need to find Alpha!"

Kilo nodded, and the two of them made their way cautiously over the support beams, watching as the occasional blasts from below tore through the ceiling and made the building quake. Eventually, they spotted their red haired leader, standing as he looked down into the arena.

"Alpha!"

He let out a gasp, and turned to the pair as they got closer.

"What're you two doing here?!" the red-haired teen shouted.

"We're here to get you out!" X-Ray exclaimed. The warehouse shook again, and Kilo looked back down at the arena, seeing two figures- a muscular man and a blue haired girl- fleeing from the red monsuno as it went wild. From the corner of his eye, he was able to see one more figure in black standing on the edge of the depression.

"We need to get out of here! It'll probably go down any second now!" X-Ray repeated, not bothering to look at the destruction.

"Hold on!" Alpha said, "There's something going on with the monsuno!"

A shrill cry got their attention. Looking back down, the smoke started to clear enough to see two monsuno still below. One being the Eklipse monsuno from before. But the other was obscured by the black smoke in the air, its silhouette being the only thing visible.

They all gasped, seeing the dark smoke suddenly sink into the red monsuno, its cries becoming even louder. It's flesh slowly changed until the group's view became obscured.

The whole building shook again, a panel from the ceiling falling dangerously close.

"We'll worry about that monsuno later," Kilo said, taking a few steps back, "Right now we have to go!"

He tugged on Alpha's arm until he reluctantly turned away. X-Ray stopped for a brief moment, throwing something down before following quickly after.

The three of them bolted for the exit, sliding back down through the vents as the ceiling started to crumble away. Just as they got to the bottom and started to run, the sound of the warehouse collapsing was heard. Shouts from the onlookers of the monsuno fighters were echoing in the area, along with police sirens.

"Back to the cloud hopper!" Alpha ordered not bothering to slow down. The three of them ran, knowing that the local enforcement would be the ones to deal with things now (which could be a good or bad thing).

As soon as the cloud hopper got into view, the three of them let out a collective sigh.

"That could've gone better," Kilo said, shoulders slumping.

"I'll say. I guess that's what we get for going to a monsuno fight that isn't controlled," X-Ray agreed, his feet dragging along as they got back into the ship.

"... But it was."

The two looked up to Alpha, who had a serious look in his eyes as he stared intensely at the floor, "There was someone else there. Down in the arena with those other two."

"Really?" X-Ray asked, then started to look around the cloud hopper.

"I'm sure of it," Alpha continued, then looked down at Tripwire's core, "The two fighting didn't even throw their cores. Someone else did before the fight could even start..."

Alpha tapped his foot, and started to pace around.

"... There had to be a third controller in the crowd. And that guy Kaito tried to fight the monsuno with his own. But something was wrong," he mumbled. Kilo raised a brow, ignoring X-Ray as he started to look for Tango and Bravo.

"Oi! Tango! Bravo! We're back!" the teen with glasses shouted. The two were sitting in their respective seats, looking bothered. Bravo was the first to look up.

"Oh... How did it go?" he asked, hesitating for a moment. Alpha sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure... I think there's something big going on," he said, "Call it a hunch, but I think that something else might be going down at these fights. More then we think."

Eventually, the leader looked to the other two, noticing their expressions, "... Did something happen while we were gone? Did Team Core Tech call in?"

Tango grimaced, and stood up. She fiddled her fingers together, a nervous habit that meant that something was bothering her.

"... We did get a message," she said, "But... We couldn't get a complete signal... And it wasn't clear what was going on."

"What do you mean 'what was going on'?" X-Ray asked.

"The message was choppy," Bravo said, joining into the conversation, "And we were only able to see Bren, none of the others were on screen. But it sounded like a distress signal to me."

Tango started to fiddle her thumbs together again, "We even tried to call back, but every time it failed."

Alpha folded his arms together in thought, letting out a hum.

"Do we know where the signal came from?"

Both Bravo and Tango shook their heads, and they all turned to X-Ray as he typed loudly away on the communication computer.

"Uh. What're you doing?" Kilo asked.

"I decided to throw down a tracker," X-Ray said, not looking up from the screen, "I just kinda reacted. And it looks like I actually got something."

The other four crowded around, watching as X-Ray pulled up a map of the town. A dot shone on it, along with a smaller one that blinked every so often.

"So we know who cause that chaos now?" Alpha asked. X-Ray shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't say for certain. For all we know it got stuck on one of the others down there. But we at least have a place to start," he said.

"What about the signal from Bren's message?" Tango asked, "Can you find out where it came from?"

"Give me a moment," the brown-haired teen said, "If I were here when you got it I'd have the exact location, but since I have to work with what little connection you had this might take a moment."

Tango let out a sigh, slowly sitting back down. Alpha grumbled, then looked back over to the control panel. His eyes flicked back over to the screen with the other two dots on it.

"I... Think we should try to trace it," she said, "the signal from Team Core Tech that is. If they were meant to be here and something or someone attacked them before, then it can't be a coincidence."

"Now hold on there Tango!" X-Ray said, looking away from the keyboard, "I think you're jumping to conclusions here. What if they're just trying to prank us or something?"

"I dunno. That explosion in the background was intense," Bravo said. Alpha let out another hum.

The ship was quiet after that, except for X-Ray tapping away at the keyboard.

"We really ought to track TCT down, but we already have a signal on the one from the fight..."

Alpha trailed off. Kilo thought back to the monsuno that had been fighting, as well as the dark figure that had been watching. There was no telling who it was, but obviously they had some interest in monsuno.

"Something going on with these monsuno fights... And on top of it, Team Core Tech not responding... It seems too coincidental, even for them," Alpha said, "I have a feeling something big is going on here. Something bigger then just illegal monsuno fights."

Kilo walked over, clapping a hand on his shoulder, "I believe you. I saw someone standing on the edge of the arena looking down. I couldn't see who it was, but they probably had something to do with it."

Alpha stared for a moment before inhaling slowly. It was clear that he had seen something else before Kilo and X-Ray had met up with him. And whatever it was, it had to be important enough for him to be so bothered.

"Something weird did happen to that monsuno," X-Ray mumbled, stopping for a second.

Suddenly Tango stood up.

"But we can't just leave without finding Team Core Tech! The least we could do is gather information on where they could be," she said.

"That's not what I was implying," Kilo said, "We don't have to just work all in one group to be a team."

They all were silent, then they slowly grinned to one another. Back during their training under Charlemagne, it was always insisted that they had to work together except when facing against Team Core Tech (in which case they had to beat them no matter what).

But it was different now. Now they could play to their strengths rather then be held back. Alpha stood a little closer, a determined look in his eyes.

"Alright guys. Here's the plan."

* * *

A/N: Review Review Review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to paperchickadees for the review! Strangely enough, I'm trying something different with this fic since it's suppose to be an origins story of five different characters (oh gee). So working non-linear with some of the story makes it hard to write (but that's just me rambling).

Enjoy!

* * *

 _The sound of clicking heels quickly moving down the hall was what immediately alerted Commander Trey of Charlemagne's approach. He steeled himself instantly, and held a salute at the sight of her long white coat. She didn't even bat an eye._

 _"Ma'am? What're-"_

 _"Where is he?" she hissed out, not bothering to stop. Trey hurried after her. It didn't take him long to work out who the 'he' was that she was talking about considering where she was heading._

 _"Um. Well. He has been apprehended, but we have yet to question him," he said, "Ma'am. I think you should hold on! We need a little more time to-"_

 _"Don't tell me what I can or can't do!" she snorted, coming to the metal door at the end of the hall. She didn't have to signal the soldiers to open it for her, revealing a dark room. The commandant marched in, stopping as she gazed down at the teen sitting against the wall._

 _Trey followed after her. Not because of how dangerous the one inside was, but the kind of danger that Charlemagne potentially was towards him._

 _Him being a brown-haired teen no older then fifteen. He looked up lazily through his glasses, one of the lens slightly cracked. Trey grimaced at the sight of varying bruises and bandages on his face and arms._

 _The report that he got said that the teen already had the injuries when they picked him up, which couldn't be a good sign. Trey was planning on picking him up after finding their combat specialist, but unfortunately for the both of them, S.T.O.R.M. had other plans. Quietly, Trey looked down at the teen's file._

 _'His grades and test scores are impeccable. No one in the region even comes close to his expertise in technical and historic knowledge,' he thought as he stared briefly at their potential candidate. 'His behavior is something to be improved on, but otherwise he holds promise in becoming the technical expert of the team.'_

 _Trey was stirred from his thoughts when Charlemagne cleared her throat to get the teen's attention._

 _"So. You think zat you can just hack into our database and steal files like nothing, do you? Not exactly ze most clever thing are you?" Charlemagne said, leering down. The teen scoffed._

 _"You take too much credit. I was doing a research paper and just happen to stumble across the S.T.O.R.M. information center," he said, not bothering to look directly at her._

 _"You must think I'm an idiot to believe that kind of story," the commandant said, "... What iz you're name?"_

 _"Wouldn't you like to know," he huffed, looking around the room. From the sound of what the other soldiers said, he had tried to find ways to escape but failed. That was the only reason he wasn't wearing any restraints, considering he could probably take them apart and use them to get out (not that it would do any good on the cloud carrier)._

 _"Oliver," Trey said, taking a step forward and getting the teen's attention, "You were able to hack into our system easily. But you waste that talent for something like school work. Don't you think that your abilities are better suited elsewhere-"_

 _Charlemagne held up a hand to silence the Commander. He winced immediately. She caught sight of the file in his hands, and quickly put together what he was implying._

 _"As much as I agree with you Trey, I have to say zat leniency iz something I do not tolerate," she said, not bothering to face him, "Besides, I doubt zis child would be able to handle our training. Just ze sight of ze enemy would send him crying back home to his-"_

 _"Who says I'm afraid?!" the teen snapped, "I just don't wanna waste my time with something like this... Not when there's those monsters running around."_

 _Both Charlemagne and Trey gasped. She turned to the man with a furious look. He gulped, knowing that look meant that she was going to start lashing out soon. Especially if the information about monsuno had been leaked out._

 _But despite her urge to shout and the commander, she tended to have the need to keep appearances in front of others. Slowly, she turned back to the teen with a dark look._

 _"... So you know about monsuno?"_

 _"... More then you know. That's for sure," he said smugly, "Goes back farther then you could even imagine! And the second I get out of here I'll be making a rather detailed reporting of them."_

 _Trey watched him for a moment, Charlemagne tapping her foot in thought._

 _"Then I'll tell you what," she said, leaning closer, "You either join us willingly. Or we'll apprehend you for interfering with government intelligence. Then you could spend some quality time in an actual prison."_

 _The teen turned pale, the cheeky expression he had disappearing. He was quick to regain his composure._

 _"So what? I've been in plenty of detentions and in-house time. I doubt it'd be that different-"_

 _"But it would," Charlemagne said, a smirk growing on her lips as she leaned even closer, "You wouldn't be going back to your school, or even your home town for zat matter. No. Where you would be going iz ze maximum security prison of S.T.O.R.M.. A place that's far, far away from anyone and anything."_

 _She slowly rose back up, not blinking as she locked eyes with the horrified teen._

 _"And I doubt that anyone would even find you zere! In fact, I'm pretty sure we've forgotten plenty of prisoners zere," Charlemagne said, then shrugged, "But I'm sure zat a boy like you could handle ze cold, darkness of the underground with only you're sanity to keep you company-"_

 _"You wouldn't-"_

 _The commandant turned on her heels and marched right out the door. Trey followed instinctively, knowing not to show any concern. But as soon as they were out, he gave a sympathetic look to the teen, who looked absolutely terrified._

 _"You can't just- Who do you think you are?! You can't do this! I have-"_

 _"I'll give you some time to think about it," Charlemagne said over her shoulder, the door slowly shutting, "I'm sure you could use ze alone time, since zat is all you will have depending on your answer."_

 _The metal slammed, and the hallway was silent. She swept her coat as she started to walk back to her office. Trey hesitated, but eventually followed._

 _"Ma'am. Was that really necessary?" he asked, "We're not seriously considering sending him to the prison? We wouldn't even send Suno's boy there-"_

 _"Calm down Trey. Even you should be smart enough to know a bluff when you see one," she snapped, "I'm not about to jeopardize my rank for an incident like throwing a child in prison."_

 _Trey winced, glancing down at the file he held._

 _"... Still," he said, "You left me in charge of finding your candidates. I can't do that if you just threaten them-"_

 _"And you can't just try to per sway them all with money and false promises," she retorted, not missing a step, "Sometimes, you need to force their hands. Especially if it's for the greater good. Remember that Trey."_

HLP

"Alright everyone, you guys ready?"

The group exchanged looks, and nodded to their leader. Alpha nodded back, casting one more glance to the cloud hopper. It was decided amongst them not to use it until they finished the mission. Which meant that it would be staying put for now as their main meeting point if they all should get separated.

X-Ray tapped at the tablet he had. The ship would be able to hold off any type of high jackers, but just to be sure, he put up extra defenses to anyone who could be considered hostile. (And given the fact that they were a short distance away from a illegal monsuno fight, someone dangerous stumbling across it wasn't out of the question).

"We meet back here in two hours. If you guys can't get anymore information or recon, head back and we'll report to Trey instead," Alpha said, getting nods from Tango and Bravo. It was Kilo who came up with the idea of them splitting into two teams. Since X-Ray was able to trace where the one from the fight went, that team would need to be the larger group.

Of course Alpha was raring to volunteer for that team as soon as the suggestion was made. For some reason he was very eager to get going after the suspect. Which was odd considering the other team was heading for Suno and his group.

"Here are the coordinates of the message from TCT," X-Ray said, handing a small tablet to Tango, "The signal was weak, but I got it stable enough to lock onto where it was sent. Not sure if they'll still be there."

Tango nodded, "No. This is good. We've worked with less before."

"And remember guys, no monsuno. Not unless its absolutely necessary," Alpha added on. The group nodded, and headed out. Tango and Bravo immediately headed towards the direction of the fighting ring. They'd have to take a roundabout way through, if only because the local authorities were probably still nearby.

"Alright you two, are you ready?" Alpha said, looking to both Kilo and X-Ray. They nodded, and ran in the other direction. Luckily their target had stopped moving for the past few minutes, which meant they'd probably be able to catch up soon enough.

As the group got further away from the warehouses, X-Ray couldn't help but notice all the shadows and small movements that would flicker on the corners of his vision. He chalked it up to his imagination.

After silently walking for a little bit longer, Alpha came to a stop.

"... What is it?" Kilo asked. The red-haired teen was staring ahead at the street. He frowned deeply, hand going towards his belt. Eventually, he kept moving.

"I have to admit something to you guys," he said, "When we were back in that warehouse. I saw what happened when that core was spun out."

He stopped again when there was a shuffling noise in one of the alleys. A stray cat ran out, and they continued on. X-Ray kept his gaze on the screen as they slowly got closer to the blinking dot. It was moving at a snails pace, which could mean a couple of things.

"When those two were fighting. You know, the ones in the ring?" Alpha continued, "Just as they were about to spin out, I saw someone else throw a core before them. But there was something wrong."

"What was it?" Kilo asked, keeping a look out for anything suspicious.

"That core. It almost looked like a Eklipse core. But the monsuno that came out was anything but," Alpha said, slowing his own pace as the screen X-Ray carried started to beep. The brown-haired teen quickly silenced it. Only a few more streets and they'd be on top of them. The group was lucky that this was still on the docks, otherwise they'd have civilians to worry about.

"That monsuno," their leader whispered, "It was dark. Almost like ash and smoke was seeping off it. And when it struck at Kaito's monsuno, those same shadows seemed to attack. I couldn't even see what happened afterwards-"

There was a loud 'BANG!'

The group jumped, looking as someone came running out of the alley. X-Ray quickly looked down to see that it was the same person who had the tracker on them.

Whoever they were, saw the three teens on the dark side of the street. Instantly, they were bolting in the other direction.

"S-Stop!" Alpha exclaimed, quickly taking chase. The other two followed after. X-Ray took note of the direction that they were heading. Despite him not being their tracker, he was able to make a good guess as to where they were going.

"Alpha, there's a split in the path up ahead. Two streets cross through on the left side. We can corner them there!" X-Ray said, keeping his voice low. Alpha nodded, and made motions to the other two. They all separated.

X-Ray went along the next street over, keeping a cautious eye on the dot. Even with them going at a fast pace, the Strike Squad would easily be able to keep up.

'This type of thing is nothing, could hardly even be considered training,' he thought.

 _"Coming up on the cross section!"_ Kilo said on the communicator. X-Ray quickened his pace, taking a left as he saw Kilo coming along on the other street. With Alpha coming up from behind, the person would have nowhere to go.

Sure enough, as he and Kilo jumped out, X-Ray saw the person slide to a halt. They took two steps backwards before looking behind to see Alpha standing there.

"Give up!" Alpha shouted, "There's nowhere to go now!"

The person cursed, turning around towards Alpha. The cloak they wore hid their features, but whoever it was couldn't be taller then the red-haired leader. Maybe even shorter then him.

"Now. Explain yourself!" Alpha demanded, "What did you do back there to the monsuno? And don't try to play dumb, I know that it's you!"

The person was silent, gazing back and forth between all three. Swiftly, their hand went to their belt. Kilo saw what they grabbed and gasped.

"Core! Get back!"

"Tripwire! launch!"

Alpha was the first to jump back and spin out. The yellow core flew along, clashing against the other's. Kilo and X-Ray dove out of the way, unable to get their cores as the two burst into sparks before their eyes.

Tripwire let out a huff, electricity flitting in the air. The other monsuno, which could only be assumed was the one from the fighting ring, was completely dark, almost formless.

X-Ray blinked, unsure of what to make of it. He knew all kinds of things about monsuno, and knew that this type of thing wasn't possible. There were no discernible markings, nor were there any indicators of what type of monsuno it was.

Despite that, Alpha didn't back down.

"Tripwire! Following Strike!"

Tripwire hissed, before running forward at top speed. The darkened monsuno didn't even move.

And before it could even get close, Tripwire halted in its tracks. It hesitated, the electricity burning around it fading.

"Tripwire? What's wrong?" Alpha asked, looking down at the core just in case. It whimpered, and took a step backwards.

The figure held up the core, a darkness shrouding around it. The dark monsuno twitched, slowly rising up. It got up on all fours, towering above Tripwire as the wolf-like monsuno cowered away.

"What's going on?" Kilo asked, hand on Warwing's core. Before he could respond, a splitting pain went through X-Ray's chest.

He gasped. The pain was quick, going through his whole body and straight up to his mind. It made his head split, and for a brief second, he recognized it as the same pain as before. The pain that only he, Tango, and Alpha were able to feel.

Just as he struggled to take a breath, there was a flash in his vision. The sight of red-hair made him gasp. But that wasn't all he saw.

Red hair.

Monsuno forming out of the shadows.

A blue jacket.

A voice piercing through, words meshing together before merging into a horrid laughter.

And just as fast as it came, it was gone, leaving X-Ray staring at the shadowy monsuno as it bared down at Tripwire and Alpha.

* * *

A/N: Review Review Review


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks to paperchickadees for the review! For some reason I keep thinking that there's something missing from the chapters as I write them, but it's just because each chapter only has one character being focused on. I think that'll change once I get the action going more (much like this chapter since it's been delayed).

Enjoy!

* * *

 _The waves crashed against the shore, sweeping water up with kelp and small crabs that were quick to dig back into the sand. One rather large wave came up from the horizon, a figure practically soaring on it._

 _He let out a whoop, cheering as the board he was on smoothed over the waters until he inevitably crashed. The water glided towards the shores undisturbed. A few seconds later, the teen popped back up with a flip of his long, blonde hair. He gripped onto his board, looking out towards the horizon for another wave. As he got back on, he spotted the commander standing on the beach._

 _Trey waited for the teen to come to him. He had been patiently waiting for a while now, guessing that it was hard to tell when someone else was here on the beach. He figured as much, considering the private property signs that were plastered all along the gate and wall._

 _The teen started coming back, and Trey prepared himself for what to say. So far, he managed to get one of his candidates to commit, with the other still in quarantine via Charlemagne's orders. He had learned what this teen's background was, and knew that, besides their trainee leader, he would be the easiest to convince._

 _As the waves continued to crash in the distance, the teen stabbed his board into the sand and unclipped the brace from his ankle._

 _"... I'm guessing you're one of my parents' friends by the look of that getup," he said, not looking very interested, "Whatever it is that you want, hurry up, I only got a few more hours of daylight, and I'd like to catch a few more waves."_

 _"Of course," the commander said, "My name is Commander Trey. I am part of the Strategic and Tactile Organization for Recovery of Monsuno. And I would like to offer you a place on one of the first teams of operatives dealing with monsuno."_

 _Trey reached into his pocket and pulled out a core, "Now. You're probably wondering what a 'monsuno' is-"_

 _"Not really," the teen said, looking off towards the ocean._

 _"Well. I'll give you a show," Trey said, ignoring the interruption. He pulled his arm back looking back towards the sand banks, "Deadfall, launch!"_

 _The core spun swiftly off to the sand dune, striking in a yellow dazzle._ _The yellow dragon from inside flew up into the sky before landing nearby, shaking the ground. Trey was grateful that the beach was private, considering how risky it was to spin out Riccoshot at a high school of all places._

 _(he was just glad that Charlemagne never found out.)_

 _Trey knew that if he was able to open the conversation up with the monsuno, this kid would be up and ready to go the second he saw it. The commander just needed to show who their partner monsuno would be. He turned back to the teen._

 _"So. This is what you would call a monsuno-"_

 _Trey stopped, realizing that the teen wasn't listening anymore. Instead he was still looking out towards the horizon._

 _"H-Hey! Aren't you listening?" Trey shouted. He motioned for Deadfall to come closer. It made its way over, leaning towards the two. It let out a small shriek. The teen looked up, lips furrowed._

 _"... Is this all?" He said, "I though you'd have something more along the lines of a weapon, not a pet."_

 _Trey's eye twitched. Who does this punk think he is? He quickly glanced inside the folder, wondering if this was going to be similar to Oliver's situation. In which case, this might be a problem..._

 _But, there was no indication that this kid would remotely know about monsuno for any reason. He wasn't as smart as Oliver, so he couldn't be planning anything nefarious. And from the look of his reaction, this was something typical for him? Maybe Trey could work with this without having to intimidate the teen (he was pretty sure that approach would be counterproductive)._

 _The commander held out the core, calling Deadfall back. There wasn't a brief look of curiosity in the teen's eyes, and Trey knew that's there was at least interest. Excellent._

 _"Alright then Cedric," Trey said, "I have a proposition for you. If you decide to join this team I'm creating, I'll be able to give you anything you desire. Money, or even something more valuable."_

 _He held up the core, watching as it entranced the teen for a brief moment. They stared off toward the ocean, hearing the seagulls._

 _"Moreover, you'll be able to see all kinds of places," Trey said, " I know this monotonous life must get tiring-"_

 _Cedric snorted, and sat down in the sand. Still, Trey continued._

 _"You're skill set is something that the team will need," he said,"I've seen the way that you fight. You're part of all the clubs that have fighting, and have mastery of almost all of them. We can use someone of your caliber as our combat specialist-"_

 _"You keep thinking that this is something that I'd wanna do. Typically adult," Cedric mumbled, "I'm the kind of guy who likes simplicity. Besides. I'm not much of a traveler. Why would I wanna leave all this for some job?"_

 _He motioned at the scenery._

 _"Because what S.T.O.R.M. can offer you is more then just opportunity," Trey reasoned, finding himself getting desperate, "You can have money, along with whatever else you desire-"_

 _The teen scoffed, flopping backwards into the sand._

 _"Money is something I hardly desire," he said, "I don't have to work at all. Parents are loaded. I can just lie here until I shrivel up if I wanted to."_

 _Trey thought for a moment, watching the other. There was a part of his folder that was curious. Maybe if he..._

 _"Can you say you're really happy though?" Trey asked lightly, "Doesn't it get lonely?"_

 _The teen rose up, not bothering to look at the man._

 _"... I have friends. Sure they can't really come over much, and I can't get a..._ _Girlfriend," he said, eyes falling briefly. He shook his head, "... But that doesn't mean I'm not happy here. My parents may be strict, but hey. What can you do? It's a small price to pay for luxury."_

 _He turned back around, frown deep, "So if you don't mind. I'd like to enjoy the last few waves before the day ends."_

 _Trey sighed, and stood up. He took out a card, setting it in the sand._

 _"If you change your mind, here's my number," he said, then walked back towards the lone path that led up to the street. He just hoped that if this was anything like his meeting with Ruben, then Cedric would be part of their team._

HLP

"Did you find anything?"

The two of them had been looking around the streets for any sign of where the signal had come from. Their electronic tracker was able to give them an approximate location of where Team Core Tech's cloud hopper was, but now they had to find it on their own.

"How about over there?" Bravo said, looking off towards the pier. That was a good place as any to park a cloud hopper. One could easily conceal it in one of the warehouses. The two of them walked forward, keeping their eyes open for any sign of Team Core Tech.

"The signal was too broad," Tango said, looking down at the screen she had that displayed the location given by X-Ray, "I guess I'll just have to track them from here."

She glanced around, looking carefully at the ground and buildings all around. Since she was their tracker on foot, Tango was the most useful teammate in this situation. Slowly, she walked all around, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

Bravo looked around as well, but saw no need to look too closely. There was no point in trying too hard if Tango just going to come back and look even closer.

"Over here!" She called out. He ran to her voice, and eventually spotted her near a large storage unit.

The problem, however, was that the unit had clearly seen better days.

"Huh. Of course you'd pick the oldest one," the blonde said, noticing the scratches and dents on it.

"No. That's not it," Tango said, staring intensely at the door, "the metal is new, but it'd have to have been here for years to get so damaged."

Bravo scratched his head, "Yeah I guess so. But what does that mean? For all we know this one has been used a lot."

Tango walked up to it. Her hand brushed up against one of the large marks.

"No. This was the work of a monsuno," she said, "And whoever was controlling it probably wanted inside."

"Oh. R-Right," Bravo said, cheeks blushing in embarrassment. Sometimes he wished he had paid more attention to X-Ray when he talked about monsuno.

Rolling her eyes, Tango grabbed the metal door and started to heave it open. Bravo walked over when he saw her struggling. The two pushed and pulled until the large door was out of the way, revealing a surprising sight.

"A cloud hopper!" Tango exclaimed, and ran inside. Bravo quickly followed her, but was weary of the damage that was done to the backside of the ship. He stared, wondering if it was the same monsuno that had tried to get in. They saw the hastily painted 'Core Tech I' on the side.

"Well. Found it," Bravo said, and looked towards the entrance. The ramp leading inside was half opened, and without the code it couldn't be lowered (why did TCT have to insist on having their own overriding code?)

Tango leapt inside gracefully. She slipped with a small squeak. Bravo heard a 'thump!' And knew she at least made it inside. He leapt in after, remembering to be wary of sliding.

The two stood there looking around for a sign of Team Core Tech. Tango walked over to the lights, flicking the switch only to find them unresponsive.

"The electricity must be dead," Bravo said, going over to the communication monitor. He pressed some of the buttons, knowing there was no point, "Hey! Is anyone in here?"

No response. He saw Tango reappear from the back, shaking her head.

"I think the place is empty," Bravo said, glancing around. It didn't look completely abandoned, but it certainly didn't look like anyone had been here for the past hour or so.

"But if they're not here, where could they be? Why would they send a distress call and leave?" Tango asked, pushing a few buttons of the monitor as well. Bravo glanced around.

"Well. Maybe that transmission was late," he said, "Maybe they sent it and there was a lag or something. Or they're being the typically 'non-conforming' team again."

"Could be," Tango said, then started to look more carefully at the walls and ground. It should've been easy for her to find some sort of clue. But from the way she hesitated and kept tapping her foot, she must've been seeing something that he couldn't.

"There's something wrong," she said, "From that transmission, the whole ship should be blown to bits. Remember? But only the outside was damaged..."

She gazed out at one of the large claw marks on the wall, seeing the way that the metal was shredded.

"... I don't like this," she said, "I think someone else was here."

"That's kinda obvious," Bravo said. She rolled her eyes.

"you know what I mean," she said, "But I think that message was sent from somewhere else, and there's something about this monsuno fight. I can't tell what it is, but I have a bad feeling about- AH!"

Before either of them could react, the ship suddenly jerked and tilted as a blast hit the side. Bravo dove from the entrance as fire quickly filled the room. The two fled for the deck as another blast hit the side.

The firing ceased. There was a hissing noise just outside the ship. Before they could look, it disappeared.

"C'mon!" Tango said, running right down the ramp that was now blown fully open.

The two ran out, quick to try and find out where the blast came from. Tango let out a small gasp, and Bravo turned to see her looking up. He followed her sight, seeing a lone figure standing atop one of the nearby buildings against the light of the moon.

"Who's that?" He asked. There was a glimmer of light, and a larger figure rose up from behind. The two saw it glow briefly, and knew it was a monsuno.

Their hands were on their cores before they even thought it.

"Deadfall!"

"Ironjaw!"

"Launch!"

Their cores collided with the building the person was standing on. The two monsuno hissed, and the one above jumped down at them with a hiss. Deadfall soared up to clash with it. The two serpent like monsuno both wound around each other, all the while clawing and growling.

"Ironjaw, take it from the left!" Tango ordered. Her monsuno swiveled around, charging up an attack as it waited for Deadfall. The dark monsuno spun away, its tail coiling around wildly. Before either of the other two could react, a black smoke started to fill the air.

"Deadfall, fly up and attack!" Bravo shouted. The dragon hissed and flashed its wings. Just as it rose up, something surged out from the smoke and pulled it inside.

"Deadfall!"

"... Why doesn't it look normal? Tango said under her breath, eyes trained on the battle. Ironjaw's attack fizzled away as it awaited orders.

"... Tango? Hey! Do something!" Bravo exclaimed, hearing Deadfall's pained cries from the smoke. It reappeared, tossed above and into one of the buildings. It smashed into the metal wall and sank down, whimpering.

"... Who... Are you?"

The two turned towards the figure, who was standing at the bottom of the building. Bravo steadied his breath, sizing up their opponent. He could tell they were at least as tall as he was, but were rather thin (which meant if he could get past the monsuno he could easily overpower them).

The figure, who was wearing a hood over their head, looked around.

"Where... Is... Team Core... Tech...?"

The two were quiet. Bravo ran over to Deadfall, looking down at it's timer to see that it had taken a large chunk of damage. He hadn't even seen an attack get fired off, so how did his monsuno become weakened?

"What do you want with Team Core Tech?" Tango asked, hand hovering over her belt.

"... Do you... Know... Where... They are...?" they asked, voice light but hoarse, "I'm... Supposed to... Find them..."

The monsuno reappeared from the smoke, it shrieked out. As it stepped forward, its body became visible in the moonlight.

It was strange, seeing it standing there. When Alpha described the other monsuno from the fighting ring as one that was cloaked in darkness, that's all they could see. Even with the street lights, and fire from the blasts, it was as if that light was being sucked away. Indistinguishable, but also menacing.

Tango took a step backwards. Her hand hesitated, and instead went and picked up her monsuno's core.

"Ironjaw, launching claw!"

The beetle-like monsuno snapped out of its daze, and went soaring across towards the other. The tail from before lashed out above, feinting off Ironjaw's attack. Immediately, the tail coiled itself around Ironjaw and slammed it to the ground.

"Ironjaw!"

Bravo clicked his tongue, and looked to Deadfall. It was struggling to get back up, but its wings were damaged from the fight. Moreover, its health gauge was still going down for some reason.

"What is..."

"... You know... Who they are," the person spoke up, not paying any attention as Ironjaw struggled to get away, "Tell me... Where... They are... I'm... Supposed... To find them... And... Finish them..."

The monsuno threw Ironjaw at Deadfall, and the two collapsed. Deadfall immediately was sent back to its core. Ironjaw tried to get back up, but failed. Bravo growled under his breath, and looked to their attacker.

"You two... Don't seem to... Know," they spoke and took a few steps back towards the shadowy monsuno, "... Farewell."

A smoke erupted from the monsuno's mouth, enveloping the two.

"Wait!" Bravo exclaimed, and ran towards it.

"Bravo stop!" Tango shouted after, grabbing his arm before he could get near the darkness. The smoke suddenly jetted out towards the direction of the pier, practically soaring over the ground.

" C'mon, we need to follow them!" He said frantically.

"Hold on!" Tango said, "We don't know who that was, or what they wanted, but we need to hold on. Our monsuno can't even attack right now."

She held up his hand with Deadfall's core as emphasis. He frowned, but knew she was right. Tango stared, and looked over to Ironjaw. She let out a gasp, and pulled away from Bravo.

Tango ran to her monsuno, and as he turned, Bravo gasped as well. The two of them got closer, and saw black smoke starting to stick onto the monsuno. It let out a shrill noise as the darkness started to spread.

"Ironjaw, return!" Tango ordered. There was a pause before it eventually came back inside.

The raven-haired girl stared at the core, then looked in the direction that their assailant had fled in. Bravo stared down at Deadfall's core, knowing that there was no point in even trying to catch up right now.

But from the look of that attack, that monsuno was _anything_ but normal. And if this monsuno was anything like the one at the fighting ring, then Alpha and the others were in trouble!

* * *

A/N: Review review review!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks to Paperchickadees for the review. I turned to beta for help with making the new villains since I didn't want them to be replicas of the others we made, and apparently she got inspired by some manga called witch hunter? I read the first few chapters and could see how she did, and admittedly started to get influenced as well.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _He was surrounded._

 _Soldiers on all sides, each of them holding up spears and wooden swords. A few that were beaten sat on the side, watching as the trainee took down their comrades. He was panting heavily, holding up his own wooden sword in front of him. After catching his breath, he surged forward again with a shout._

 _He swung wide to get their stances off balance. Immediately, he went to the right and went for a thrust. It was blocked, and he took a few light steps towards the left and changed targets._

 _By the edge of the arena, Trey stood by watching. He could hear the other soldiers chatting around, waiting for the training exercise to be done with so they could leave. Some of them weren't as interested, talking about some of the latest reports on where Dr. Suno was spotted._

 _There was the sound of the doors opening behind, and Trey looked over his shoulder. He let out a small gasp, and went into a salute. He didn't dare turn away, even when he heard the last few soldiers fighting let out surrenders._

 _The red-haired teen stood there, panting as he still held his wooden blade in front._ _Glancing around, he knew that they were done. These exercises always had him fighting only once, but even then he was exhausted._

 _He heard applause from the other side of the room, knowing that it was Trey. But he noticed that there were actually two sounds. He turned around, seeing the Commander and another leading the way._

 _He stiffened. That blonde hair. That white coat._

 _He gulped, feeling his heart skip a beat._

 _It was the Commandant Marshall, Charlemagne! In the flesh!_

 _"Good job Alpha," Trey said, walking further into the room. Alpha nodded, stretching his arm, "I expected as much from you. There's a bright future ahead if you continue at this rate."_

 _Alpha beamed at him. The commander handed him a bottle of water which he took graciously._

 _"I wouldn't be so hasty to give praise Commander," Charlemagne said, stepping further inside as well, "If he wants to be taken seriously here, he can't be babied like a child. Your soldiers should be going full force, even in training."_

 _Trey frowned, but held his tongue. As she came closer, her eyes looked up and down the teen. Alpha froze, clutching onto both the bottle and the handle of his blade instinctively. She looked at the sword before looking back up at him._

 _"Commander Trey says zat you prefer ze blade above other weapons," she said, "... How good do you think you are?"_

 _Alpha grinned, "No one here can beat me ma'am-"_

 _"You didn't hear me," she said, leaning closer until her hair almost brushed against his cheek, "How_ ** _good_** _do you think you are?"_

 _He stiffened, feeling his breath catch in his throat at how she leered down at him. Her presence was suffocating, intimidation radiating from her. She sneered, then stood straight up._

 _"By your hesitation, I can assume hardly at all," she said, then quickly turned to Trey. He stiffened immediately, "Trey. I thought you had a promising candidate picked out for ze leader of ze team. Figures zis would happen after all your other recruits turned out to be nothing."_

 _She glanced over her shoulder with a cold gaze, "I suppose he's just ze same-"_

 _A whipping sound went through the air. Trey flinched back, and blinked a few times in surprise. Charlemagne stood rooted in her spot, whip held in both hands as she blocked a swing from the right with hardly any movement. Her lips curled into a smirk as Alpha's expression dropped._

 _He stepped back, keeping the wooden sword in front of him. His lip twitched nervously as the Commandant swept her coat to the side, letting it drop to the floor. Her grip tightened on the whip as she flexed her other hand._

 _"Stand back Commander," she said, eyes not leaving the teen as she brought her whip up, "I believe a demonstration is in order."_

HLP

The presence of the monsuno was intense. Alpha stood there, staring as the black monsuno continued to snarl at Tripwire, who was cringing backwards after getting attacked.

He hadn't see anything like it before, and was caught in awe as the clouds overhead cleared enough for the moonlight to pour down. Now that they were out in the open, he could see the beast to its fullest.

But even then, the dark that clung to it made it hard to define.

It reminded him of a panther, except resembling more to a monsuno like Locke with large muscular arms. But it didn't have crystal rock on it, nor did it have markings like a typical Eklipse monsuno. But it did reek of something just as foul as it let out a heavy breath.

There was a pained shout, and Alpha looked to see X-Ray suddenly fall to his knees.

"X-Ray!"

The one they were chasing looked backwards briefly, still shadowed by their monsuno, and then held up the core in their hands.

"Melting Gorge!"

The beast inhaled deeply, and let out a roar as bright red flames poured from its mouth and shot between it and Tripwire. Immediately, the ground below got hot with lava. Alpha took a step back from the heat, embers already rising in the air. He glared up at the other, seeing them flinch back at his glare.

"Tripwire, Plasma Repeater"

It hesitated, but Tripwire let out a string of blasts at the other monsuno. It took every hit, standing there awaiting orders. Alpha looked past them and saw Kilo kneeling beside X-Ray as the two watched the fight. He could see the latter trying to get his attention, but the red-haired teen couldn't hear over the battle.

Alpha looked forward again, and continued to face down their attacker. At his stare, they brought their cloak tighter around their face, features still hidden.

They turned to the monsuno.

"Let's get out of here!"

It grunted, and let out a roar. Kilo got back to his feet and grabbed his core.

"Warwing, launch!"

The yellow and black core went spinning along until it hit the other monsuno's foot. Yellow sparks filled the air as Warwing rose from it. It let out a screech, and immediately dove back down in a wide swoop.

One of the monsuno's arms came up in a block. Warwing let out a screech, charging up an attack. It released the blast straight into the other's face, even with its own arms caught.

The recoil from the attack blew the unknown controller off their feet, and they let out a shout as they were thrown to the ground. Something from below their cloak tumbled away to the side.

"Kilo! X-Ray! Apprehend them!" Alpha shouted as he ran around the lava. Tripwire took a few steps backwards, and leapt over the heated river and into the fight.

Kilo glanced down at X-Ray, who was still disorientated by whatever happened, and stayed rooted. As Tripwire and Warwing both pushed the other monsuno back, they were edging near the two teens. Which meant the two of them needed to move.

The dark-skinned teen leaned down at helped the other to his feet. X-Ray craddled his head in pain, letting Kilo wind his arm under his shoulders for more support. Lifting the other a little, Kilo was quick to shuffle out of the way as the dark monsuno let out a roar.

There was a clicking noise, and X-Ray let out a wince as he reached for his communicator.

"Hello? Tango? Where are you guys?" he said, panting a little, "What? I don't- I'll send you our coordinates-"

With one wide motion, the shadowy monsuno took a better hold of Warwing and slammed it into Tripwire. The two crashed to the ground as it's body tensed up again, jowls lighting up.

One burst of energy went down onto the two yellow monsuno, both shrieking in agony. Kilo felt the core in his hand suddenly heat up. He let out a small gasp, nearly dropping it. As the black monsuno loomed over the other two, it hunched its shoulders, quickly looking over to its fallen controller.

Alpha, who had finally found a way around, jumped down a few feet in front of the fallen individual. They glanced up, and got back into a crouched position.

"Alpha! Tango and Bravo are on their way!" X-Ray shouted. The red-haired teen nodded, then looked down at the other in front of him.

"Spill it," he demanded, "Who are you? And what are you doing with that monsuno?"

Whoever it was didn't answer, clinging the fabric closer to their frame. It was obvious that it would come off with an easy tug, but Alpha was trying to be chivalrous, hoping that they would be willing to give up.

(thought that never really worked)

With a click of his tongue, Alpha took two steps before the black monsuno pounced forward. It shook the ground as it landed, letting out a roar at the teen as it shielded its controller.

Alpha took a step back, clenching onto Tripwire's core.

"Tripwire, Tail Barrage!"

Wires shot out from behind and wound themselves around the shadowy monsuno. Electricity ran through them and stunned the other. The controller let out a small gasp of surprise that made the monsuno flinch. With a shaking frame, the monsuno reached up and took a hold of the wires.

With another roar, it lifted Tripwire with one wide overhead slam and threw it back towards Alpha.

The red-haired teen let out a gasp and jumped out of the way as his monsuno slid on the ground and crashed into the building behind them. Tripwire let out a weak groan, and retreated back into its core.

Alpha stared in shock, holding the core out. He turned around to see the monsuno pick up its controller, who clung onto its arm and their cloak.

"Warwing, stop them!" Kilo ordered.

Warwing grunted, and charged forward.

With its free hand, the darkened monsuno grabbed onto Warwing's neck without looking. The controller looked up at the monsuno, then turned towards Alpha. He raised a brow, trying to make out who they were with the embers from the lava still floating in the air.

"... Corrupting Ash."

The shadowy monsuno let out a grunt, then inhaled deeply. It breathed out at Warwing, filling the air with dark smoke. Alpha flinched back, holding a hand to his face as it swept over the area. Warwing let out a shrill cry of pain. There was a flash of yellow as it was thrown off towards the side. The three Strike Squad members watched as Warwing spasmed on the ground, black shadows creeping along its body.

"Warwing!"

The attacker watched briefly before looking up at their monsuno, and nodded. It tightened its grip, and leapt up over Alpha. He watched as they landed on top of the roof of the building that Tripwire was tossed into.

"Hold on!" he shouted.

"Alpha!"

He turned back around to see Kilo trying to call Warwing back, but failing. X-Ray was crouched on the ground, calling to their leader.

Alpha grit his teeth, looking back up to where the attacker had fled, and back to his teammates. He knew that if they could corner that person, then Tango and Bravo would be able to help them.

But something was wrong with Kilo's monsuno.

Alpha turned back around to see Warwing still letting out pained yelps as it started to lash out. X-Ray got back to his feet and took out a core.

"Blockade, launch!"

Blockade appeared, and took a hold of Warwing as it tried to attack Kilo. Alpha gave one last look up at the direction that the dark monsuno had retreated, and let out a short breath.

He turned around and ran to his teammates' side.

"Warwing! Return!" Kilo ordered. It didn't respond, even as Blockade restrained it, "Warwing!"

"Kilo, what's happening?" X-Ray said, staring at the two monsuno.

"It was that attack that monsuno did," Alpha said, "I saw it back there at the fighting ring. We have to get Warwing back in its core!"

"Easier said than done," Kilo said, still holding his core out. As the darkness spread up around Warwing's legs, it let out a shriek. With newfound strength, it tossed Blockade backwards.

Kilo looked down at the indicator, seeing it phasing. Warwing gave short pants before let out a shriek at the group of teens. Alpha's hand flew to his core, but knew that it was useless with Tripwire needing to recharge.

Just as Warwing took a step forward, it was pelting with yellow blasts. The three looked over to see Bravo and Tango running towards them, Ironjaw hovering behind.

"Ironjaw, keep going!" Tango ordered. Her monsuno followed, and continued to attack.

Warwing tried to resist, let out more pained noises until finally it turned back into yellow sparks.

As Bravo and Tango came next to them, Warwing's form didn't go back inside. Instead it continued to resist.

"What's happening?" Bravo exclaimed.

"Blockade, attack!"

Blockade rose back up, then let out a turret of shots. They all watched as the combined attacks phased through Warwing's form, shadows starting to retreat away and dissolve from it. Finally, the monsuno's energy faded back into its core. Kilo held it out, wincing as it came back in a whirlwind flurry.

As the last of it retreated back, Kilo was pushed back by the recoil. He flew backwards and landed flat on his back.

"Kilo!"

The teen leaned back up, and stared down at the core. It twitched a few times, the yellow light flashing in resistance. Eventually, it stopped, and the core appeared to be back to normal.

They all let out a collective sigh.

"Glad that's over," Bravo said. Kilo kept his hands on his core, cradling it with care. Alpha looked back towards the direction that their attack had retreated in. There was something wrong about this whole thing, and not just with the monsuno. There was a feeling that he got that made him on edge when they were near that controller. Something that set him on edge...

X-Ray turned to Bravo, "So did you guys find Team Core Tech?"

"Not really. We found their Cloud Hopper with nothing in it," Bravo said, scratching the back of his neck, "But there was someone that we found..."

"Someone?"

Bravo frowned, then looked down at Deadfall's core in his hand, "It might've been someone who is connected to the one from the fighting ring. Their monsuno was completely black, and we couldn't see who they were either."

Alpha frowned, and bit his thumb in thought, "So there's more people with these cores... We'll need to report this in to Trey and find out what they're after. But if they're still in the city, then we can still track them."

"Are you sure we should though?" Kilo said, finally looking back up, "They were able to do something to that monsuno back in the fighting ring, and again here with Warwing. We might need back up for this."

Tango nodded, "I agree, we need to find Team Core Tech first. That's why we're here anyway."

Alpha tapped his foot. He turned to X-Ray.

"Can you still track down that person?" he asked, ignoring the others for a moment.

"I probably can," X-Ray said, bringing up the screen on his wrist, "I doubt they know about the tracker, so we can at least figure out where they're going. But..."

The teen trailed off, looking distressed as his eyes landed on Kilo's core. Alpha saw, and knew what he was thinking.

"... What's this?"

The group turned towards Tango, who was crouched down a few feet away. She let out a gasp.

"What's wrong?" Alpha asked, taking a step forward. The raven-haired girl stood back up, and turned around. She held out the object that made her gasp, and Alpha's eyes widened, remembering that their attacker had dropped something moments ago in the middle of their fight.

And they all stared at said object.

The Core Tablet.

Just what was going on?

* * *

A/N: Going on spring break, so I might just spend the next week writing rather then posting and updating every other story. It's hard to come up with stuff when there's a lot of pressure (at least internal pressure). Plus, now that I've got a firmer idea of who the antagonists will be, the next few chapters should come easier (and be much longer!).

Review Review Review!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey~o. Sorry for the long wait. I've been holding off on posting because I wanted to put more effort on where this story is going (if only because I have clear ideas of where the other two are going so this is the one that has an open end). Now that I have a better idea, this should be regularly posted again. Thanks to ChasexJinjaForever and Paperchickadees for the reviews.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _He had to park the cloud hopper some ways away to avoid any unnecessary attention. That went without saying, given how crowded the area was. This part of the city was especially impacted with buildings and people, which meant traveling in anything other then a car would look suspicious._

 _Trey stood in front of the apartment complex, hearing all different voices inside. It was clear that the structure wasn't in the best condition. Still, he had a purpose to keep going. At this rate of his recruitment, Charlemagne was going to slaughter and string him up for the rest of the army to see._

 _"Pardon me," he said as someone bumped into him. They didn't pay attention, and he walked on. As he stood at the door of the building, his eyes trailed down the pager until they settled on the name at the bottom. The same one that was on the file he carried._

 _He pressed the buzzer, and he waited for a response. Nothing. Trey pressed the button again. This time, someone answered._

 _"Who is it?"_

 _There was a commotion going on in the background that he could hear, though it was hard to tell what it was. (Especially with all of the other noises around.)_

 _"My name is Lieutenant Trey," he said officially, "I'm wishing to speak with Soo Yin Jun."_

 _He waited again. But to his surprise, the voice from before didn't respond._

 _"... Hello? Is anyone there?" he asked._

 _"... She's not here," the voice said in disdain. The intercom clicked off. Trey stared, distantly hearing the other tenants in the rooms above. Sighing, he pulled a letter from his pocket, along with a small package that fit in his hand. He pressed the intercom again, set the two on the side of the entrance, and turned to head back to the cloud hopper._

HLP

With their own Cloud Hopper some distance away, Alpha made the decision for them to all go to the abandoned cloud hopper that Tango and Bravo had found. And so, they all stood there in the main part of the ship, quietly trying to figure out their next move.

Tango still held onto the Core Tablet. While there was an impressive crack running across the screen, earlier when she pressed the power button there was a response. However, there was no way to access the files with it locked. None of them even dared to chance guessing the code in case it self destructed or something (though she scoffed at that thought).

Kilo eventually moved out of the ship, not feeling like standing around anymore. Alpha let out a sigh, his foot tapping in thought.

"Hey Tango."

She turned towards X-Ray, seeing him motioning towards the tablet. She passed it over. Of all the people who would know what to do with it, it would be him. X-Ray grabbed a cord from his station and connected the Core Tablet to the screen on his arm.

"What are you doing? Trying to take a bunch of joke pictures or something?" Bravo asked.

"No. Trying to hack into it to see what's on it," X-Ray said, not looking up, "If that guy had the tablet, then there must be something on it that is important."

Tango blinked, and couldn't help but agree. There was plenty of information on that tablet that would warrant someone wanting to steal it. However, there were only a few people out there that knew that. Whoever these people were had purpose, and it must've had to do with monsuno research.

The lights overhead flickered on, and the engine let out a humming noise. Kilo appeared in the entrance.

"Looked like everything was still intact," he said, wiping some grease from his hands, "Hey Alpha. What should we do now?"

Alpha was pacing in a line, a motion that none of them had caught until now. He didn't respond, caught in his own thoughts. When the screens came on, they jumped a little. The map of the city was on display with a few notes. Tango blinked as she stared for a moment, then went up to it and sat down, typing furiously.

"What're you doing?" Bravo asked curiously.

"There was a different route," she said, not missing a beat as she continued to type, "this says that Team Core Tech was meant to be in another part of the city. Plus, it's a little suspicious that the cloud hopper was hidden at all."

X-Ray let out a hum, "True. Knowing Team Core Tech they would've left it in the middle of the street."

"Which means the cloud hopper could've been moved," Kilo said, folding his arms together. Alpha, noticing them all, walked over.

"Or they chose to land it here and go to the location on foot," he said, then frowned, "But that doesn't sound like them. They would've left it out in the open... What does the log say Tango?"

She brought up the navigation log. To all their surprise, it had been landed earlier that evening in another location. However, as she compared it to the map of where the team was meant to go, it didn't match at all.

"Something's wrong," she said, taking note of how far it was from their current location, "the cloud hopper shouldn't have been here at all. In fact, they should've landed where we did. And it looks like it landed somewhere else before it did here..."

"The autopilot doesn't look like it was tampered with," X-Ray said as he sat at another station.

Alpha folded his arms, tapping his foot. Tango couldn't help but notice that he seemed a bit distracted. Whenever he was thinking of something other then the current mission, he tended to get this way. Eventually, he let out a sigh.

"Alright," he said, "We should go see why Team Core Tech would land somewhere else. Let's go investigate."

Tango nodded, standing up from her seat. She blinked when she saw the rest of them hesitating. Alpha quickly noticed as well.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"That guy from before will probably be there," Kilo said, gazing down at Warwing's core, "Do we even stand a chance against that monsuno?"

Alpha's gaze dropped, and Tango fidgeted where she stood as the rest of them got the same sullen look. None of them could tell if Warwing was alright. And they wouldn't know until Kilo spun it out. Regardless, this posed a threat towards their monsuno, and any monsuno out there.

And she didn't even want to think about what it could do to a person.

"I... Gotta agree with Kilo on this one," Bravo said, scratching the back of his neck, "Even though our fight was against a different opponent, its clear there's a difference in strength with these monsuno. We should report back to Commander Trey-"

"I think that'll be a problem."

The group turned to X-Ray, who was typing away at the station he was at. An error message kept popping up every time he pressed the input button.

"What's wrong?" Alpha said, walking over.

"I can't get a signal," the brown-haired teen responded, still typing, "Maybe it's because of the signal being interfered, or something was damaged, but I can't connect to the cloud carrier. So..."

He held up the Core Tablet.

"I'll probably have to wait on fixing this until after we send a message," he said, then went back to work on the communication line. Bravo and Kilo both sighed.

"So we just have to wait around right?" Kilo said, leaning against the wall, "I guess there's not really much to do otherwise..."

Alpha exhaled, hands clenching into fists.

"Well. I'm going to go investigate that other landing spot," he said, "You guys try to get in contact with the cloud carrier. If anything, we can at least get Team Core Tech's cloud hopper out of here-"

There was a beeping noise, and they all looked to X-Ray as he stared down at the screen on his arm.

"Don't tell me you ruined it," Tango sighed as she glanced at the Core Tablet. X-Ray let out a scoff.

"Please. I wouldn't break it, I'm not that dim," he said, "But I am getting a signal on that guy from before. It looks like they slowed down and am coming to a stop."

"Do you know where?" Alpha asked.

X-Ray typed away on his tablet, then glanced over to the larger map on the nearby monitor."It looks like they're near the location Team Core Tech was at. And it looks like they've come to a stop."

The teen continued to stare at the screen, then glanced up at the large map again. Alpha let out a hum.

"I see... In that case."

Alpha turned and went to the exit, "You guys keep trying to contact Lieutenant Trey. Use the communicator if you find out anything else or if they start moving again."

"Hold on!" Bravo said, "You're still not wanting to go after these guys are you?"

"Yeah. We should wait for reinforcements from Trey," X-Ray said, not looking up from his typing.

"But... What about Team Core Tech?" Tango argued, "We... We need to find them. And it's obvious that the one who had the Core Tablet knows _something_!"

Both Bravo and X-Ray immediately flinched back at her reaction (whenever she argued with them, they were quick to back down). Kilo, on the other hand, was staring down Alpha. Neither of them spoke, some sort of silent exchange going on. Alpha had a strange look in his eyes though, something that none of them had seen before as he glared with a level of ferocity that was almost on par with Charlemagne.

Eventually, Kilo let out a sigh.

"Can't keep you here even if we tried I suppose," he said, "At least try not to fight them head on. I know you can't help yourself though."

Alpha let out a chuckle, seeing Kilo's expression soften. The red-haired teen smiled and gave them a small salute as he ran down the ramp and into the street. Tango glanced at the rest of them, and ran after.

"Hold on," she called out as she stepped out of the cloud hopper, "I'll go with you. If that was the last place that Team Core Tech was spotted then maybe I can track them."

Alpha didn't arguing, simply nodding to her as the pair ran out into the street. She had already memorized the directions that they needed to go in, and knew it wouldn't take them very long to get to the location as they sprinted.

There was a bad feeling creeping as they went through the back alleys. Tango felt it ever since they got to this part of the city.

"Hey Tango," Alpha said, "Why did you want to come along? You saw what those other monsuno can do. Surely you feeling the same way as the others."

She thought for a moment. Why did she want to come along? Despite the feeling in her gut, the raven-haired girl couldn't think of doing anything else _but_ trying to find out who these people were. Especially after she saw the Core Tablet and felt her heart stop at the sight.

"Kind of," she responded eventually, "Bravo's fight was very fierce, and I can only imagine what Kilo's was like. But if Team Core Tech fought with them as well, then we should try to find them. Their monsuno might be in more danger then ours."

Alpha nodded. Tango had to assume that was the reason why he was so insistent on trying to find these people. But there was also something else that seemed to be bothering their red-haired leader.

He was starting to get somewhat reclusive within the small span of time that they had been in the city. And it wasn't lost on her.

"What about you?" she asked, "Why have you been so insistent on going after these guys?"

Alpha started to slow his pace down. He didn't quite come to a stop, despite his gaze falling.

"This isn't like you... Is something wrong."

He was quiet, but he kept walking at a slow pace. Eventually, he came to a stop. They weren't near any of the port storage units, and it looked like they were coming to a construction site. But with how late it was, no one was around. Tango couldn't help but shiver at the chill she got at the empty area. Alpha wasn't bothered by it at all.

"Do you ever regret your decision to come to S.T.O.R.M.?" he said suddenly. She was caught off guard by his question, and looked down. Distantly, she could hear cars somewhere in the city, and even the waves on the ocean.

"... No. Not really," she said, fiddling her thumbs against each other, "Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like if I hadn't. But usually it ends up with me coming to the same conclusion."

She shook her head.

"I wanted to be here," she said, "My family needed help after our home was destroyed. A lot of the people from Mechanopolis needed help from S.T.O.R.M. And we got that help during all the chaos, if only because the whole thing was caused by monsuno energy."

She brought a hand to her chest, having a hard time remembering the first few days of leaving her home. More memories came up after they went back to the worn down city for their mission, but it was still hard to recall most of them. Especially after not wanting to think about it for years.

"So... You felt like you owed S.T.O.R.M. then?" Alpha asked. Surprisingly, she shook her head.

"Not really. I just didn't want to feel helpless," she said, gazing up at the night sky, "I saw the type of things that S.T.O.R.M. was capable of. And knew I could make a difference if I could be part of the organization."

She trailed off somewhat, the silence stretching between them. She watched him, seeing the way that his brows furrowed in frustration.

"... So?"

"So what?" Alpha asked, looking to the raven-haired girl.

"It's not just that. Is it?" she said, putting a hand on her hip, "I've told you why I came to S.T.O.R.M. before. But that wasn't why you asked. What's wrong?"

He shook his head, and went back to running. She was quick to follow, staring at him as she waited for an answer. (There was no way she was going to let him off that easily).

"... I'm not sure," he eventually responded, "Before when we were at the fighting ring, there was something about that controller that was... Well, I can't really explain why, but I think I-"

Alpha came to a halt, and Tango raised a brow. When she saw him staring a head, she followed his line of sight and let out a gasp.

They were still in the district near the wharf, but the location must've been some sort of construction site. At least, that's what it must've been before the fight took place. A fight that Team Core Tech had been part of no doubt.

As they passed through one of the torn down chain fences, the two saw large craters and metal beams sticking out from the ground. The structure that was being built (that would no doubt take longer now) was half torn down. Some of the nearby lifting cranes were toppled over as well.

Tango took a few steps forward, looking at the ground. She could faintly see footsteps, though it would be hard to tell if they were from the workers or from someone else. But she was able to discern the large footprints that were no doubt monsuno. One set in particular caught her eye. She crouched down next to it.

"Hey Alpha. I think you were right about them being here," she said. He held his hand up, and she blinked. He was staring ahead towards the in-progress building. He made a motion for her to keep her voice down, and started to approach.

When she stood up, Tango could hear something dripping, probably a leaky pipe. They had walked some way into the structure when another sound echoed around them. They both jumped when something small clatter on the ground nearby. As Alpha approached it, he saw that it was the tracker from before, the small red light blinking.

There was a sound above, and they both quickly looked up to see something large coming down at them. They both dove out of the way as the ground shook. Tango rolled swiftly over and saw large steel beams sticking out from where they were standing. She looked up, and saw someone standing a few floors above.

"Hold it!" she exclaimed, then looked around for a way up.

"Tango over here!" Alpha yelled to her left. She could see him by a makeshift stairwell in the moonlight, and sprinted over, "Which floor?"

"Fourth floor. But they've probably moved now," Tango responded. Alpha shook his head.

"No. S-They're going to be there," he said, eyes set in a intense glower as he stared up ahead.

As the two got to the fourth floor, they both stood there, seeing the whole area empty besides the support beams. There were no walls except the outside ones, which left a clear view of the entire floor for the building. As the two teens took a few cautious steps forward, there wasn't anything that was out of place.

"Where'd they go?" Tango whispered, already reaching for her belt. A few panels were missing from the floors above them, allowing some moonlight to stream through. There were also a large amount of the floor panels missing in the middle of the room.

There was a clatter, and they both turned to see someone's silhouette on the other side of the room. Tango could faintly tell that whoever it was, was probably shorter then either of them. But with their cloak on, she couldn't tell anything else.

"Turn yourself in now," Alpha said, holding up Tripwire's core, "I don't want to have to face you in a fight again, but I won't hold back if you choose to."

Whoever they were didn't respond. Tango took a few steps away towards the right. Chances were, Alpha was trying to bait them into spinning out, especially with the place so cramped.

But it was obvious that wasn't going to work.

The person's arm flew up, but instead of spinning out a core, they threw a metal pipe to the left. A beeping noise went off, and then the whole floor was filed with the same sound. Tango looked around, seeing blinking lights. She let out a gasp.

"Explosives!"

Alpha cursed, and threw a metal disk at their assailant. Midair it let out a metal net that quickly caught the other off guard. They fell over, and quickly tried to get free.

The small devices surrounding the two soldiers went off, releasing some sort of smoke into the air. Tango took a few steps towards Alpha, quickly trying to figure out if it was toxic or not.

"I think it's just a smokescreen," Alpha said, grabbing his sword from his belt.

"At least that guy is disarmed for now," Tango said, hearing some struggling.

"I don't think we're in the clear yet though," Alpha said, gripping the blade in front of him, "do you hear that?"

Listening closer, Tango could tell the smoke was still releasing. But there was also another sound. Whistling came from her left, and Alpha's arm flew up and knocked something out of the air. She saw a metal rod clatter to the ground.

"I think s-they set this trap up for us," Alpha said, quickly blocking another, "And I don't think this smoke will clear out quickly, considering where we're at. Stay close."

Tango nodded, and pulled her own extending weapon from her belt. It was a heavy metal staff, though typically she preferred the one with a blade at the end that she kept in the cloud hopper.

More metal came rushing towards them from beyond the clouds of smoke. For the two of them, it was nothing more then practice. Alpha easily avoided the ones that went wide, and kept his blade close and stance small when a few came straight at him. Tango branched off, using the length of her weapon to feint off every one she heard. After a few wide swings, she managed to make her way to one of the areas with an opening to the upper floors.

With three swift strides, she struck her staff down and pole vaulted herself up to the other floor. The raven-haired girl landed with a few small steps.

Even though she was leaving Alpha below, she knew that he would be alright. She could hear the projectiles going at a slower pace, which meant they were either running out or whatever was propelling them was losing power.

Tango ran over towards the far side of the building, jumping down into another opening. The cloaked figure was still trying to get out from the net, and eventually managed to kick it off. As they got up, the smoke had cleared enough for Alpha's figure to be seen. He must've noticed as well, looking towards them.

The person grabbed their core, holding it up to be launched.

"Stop!" Tango shouted, tackling into the other. They let out a small gasp as both of their balance was thrown off. The person tried to push Tango off, and only succeeded in rolling over a few times until finally, they were both left falling over the edge.

"Tango!"

Luckily for the two of them, there were a large amount of tarps that were strung up within the crossbeams that helped slow their fall. As they punctured through them all and landed on the ground, Tango ended up losing her grip and rolled away, gasping.

Distantly above, she could hear Alpha calling out to her. Wincing, she turned on her side and got back up to her hands and feet. Looking over, she saw the figure from before panting. Their cloak had been thrown off, allowing Tango to have a full view of who they were.

To her surprise, Tango saw a girl that was most likely younger then she was. There was a mask covering her eyes and part of her face, but that didn't hide the short red hair she sported. Blinking, Tango stared as the girl eventually looked up.

Instantly, the girl was up on her feet and stepping away from the other as she grabbed onto the black core from before. She flinched and gasped, holding her arm in pain. Tango tried to get back up, but found herself cringing as spasms went through her leg where she landed. Quickly, she reached for Ironjaw. To her shock, it wasn't on her belt. Glancing around, Tango saw it a short distance away.

"Tango!" Alpha called out, his footsteps getting closer. The girl noticed immediately, backing away from the sound of his voice. She gave one last glance at Tango before turning and fleeing.

"Hold it!" Tango shouted, trying to stand and failing. She let out a hiss of pain, knowing that she sprained something, most likely her ankle. Alpha's footsteps came closer until finally he slid down next to her.

"Tango! Are you okay?" he asked, then quickly looked around, "Where'd she go?"

"That way," Tango said, motioning in the direction the girl fled in, "But... I don't think I can stand right now. But she's hurt, which means you can probably-"

She stopped. Alpha was staring in the direction that was cloaked in shadows of the building. His gaze was hard and his expression was unreadable. As she laid there, something he said before suddenly got her attention.

"... Alpha. Did you know-"

There was a sharp white noise that made the two jump. Alpha looked down to his belt, realizing it was their communicators going off. He put it to his ear as he helped Tango up.

"Alpha. What is it?"

" _Alpha! You two better hurry back!"_

It was Kilo, sounding more then a little panicked. There was some sort of commotion in the background, and Tango immediately thought the others were being attacked. Alpha must've seen her expression, and responded.

"Kilo, what's happening?" he asked, "Are you all okay? What's going on?"

" _Don't worry. Nothing's the matter,"_ Bravo was the one talking this time, though the strain in his voice didn't calm them at all, " _But_ _you two need to hurry back as fast as you can!" "You're gonna want to see this!"_

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A/N: Review Review Review!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to Paperchickadees and ChasexJinjaForever for the reviews. I'm bouncing back and forth between these fic, so

i'll update one before the other if anyone wants to keep track.

Enjoy!

* * *

T _rey sat at his desk, fingers drumming on the surface as he stared down at the files. As much as he wanted the Strike Squad to be his team, at this rate that wasn't going to be the case._

 _So far, he had only really confirmed two of his five candidates, one of which was by default. There were a number of others that could easily be the ones to fill in the remaining positions, but with the way that he revealed vital information to teens, there was no way he could let those three stay out of S.T.O.R.M.. But he wasn't about to force them in like Charlemagne is trying to do with Oliver._

 _Trey couldn't help but cringe at the thought of how long the brunette teen had been kept in that room, and was still not allowed to leave. The only one allowed to go in was Charlemagne, and Trey hoped that she wasn't doing anything extreme._

 _"... I should go check on him," Trey sighed, resting his chin on hand as he continued to stare at the files. He flushed them out over his desk, frowning. Maybe he needed to offer them more incentive on joining. But from Cedric's reaction, that wasn't going to work. And since he hadn't even spoken to Jun, there was no telling what she would desire..._

 _What's more, this group might not even work well together. Sure they were all the perfect candidates to take on Chase Suno and his friends, but would they be able to do it efficiently? And would they even be able to use monsuno properly? It took Trey months to wield his own, almost a year..._

 _He tapped his fingers against the desk, still staring intently at the files, "... How am I going to do this."_

 _"I'll tell you how."_

 _Trey looked up, seeing Charlemagne standing there. He stood up immediately, going into a salute. She looked down at the files with a sneer._

 _"You're rather set on those five aren't you Trey," she said with a raised brow, "How far are you? I need zis team to be ready soon. We're finally getting a trace on Dr. Suno, and it seems that Emmanuel Klipse iz also planning on something. And anything involving that man is definitely going to be destructive."_

 _"Of course," Trey said, then fidgeted for a moment, "I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a little longer for your team-"_

 _There was a whipping noise in the air, and Trey flinched. Charlemagne's crop rested on his desk as she glared at him._

 _"I gave you time, Trey. And clearly that wasn't enough," she hissed, "Tell me. Do you even have half of them? Or even the monsuno they will be wielding?"_

 _He didn't respond, staring down at his hands. She clicked her tongue. She moved her crop away from the desk, slapping it in her hand a few times._

 _"At zis rate, you will be demoted," she said, grinning when she saw him wince, "Since you've been having such a hard time creating zis team. I think I'll take it off your hands."_

 _Trey shut his eyes, nodding. There was no room for arguing the matter, even if he wanted to. He saw the way that she had lashed out when Jon Ace had betrayed them. And if he even got within an inch of her, there was no telling what she would do. Knowing this, Trey couldn't even think about protesting._

 _Charlemagne, knowing that she had won, picked up the files from his desk, and turned on her heel. Her coat swept behind her as she walked out. When the doors shut, Trey slumped into his seat._

 _He had avoided being destroyed by that woman. But there was no telling what kind of things she'll do to recruit the team..._

 _Or what kind of things they would go through._

HLP

So how's it going? You got that thing figured out yet?"

X-Ray let out a sigh, looking over towards Bravo. The blonde was busy not doing anything, sitting in one of the empty seats as he stared at the other. Kilo was towards the entrance, keeping watch in case Alpha and Tango came back, or if someone else stumbled by.

"No I don't actually," X-Ray sighed again, then went back to typing at the communications station on the cloud hopper. At the moment, he was trying to get a signal out to the cloud carrier to give their location. The sooner they could get the okay from Trey, the sooner they could move out and try to pursue these creeps with the weird monsuno.

(That and someone needed to come get Team Core Tech's cloud hopper)

"So... How much longer do you think it'll be?" Bravo asked.

X-Ray sighed again, swiveled around on the chair, and shoved the Core Tablet to his teammate.

"Here," he said, "Just... Play around with this for now."

"Isn't it locked?" Kilo asked, walking over and looking at the device.

"It is but- Just. Let me concentrate on this!' X-Ray snapped, typing even more furiously. Bravo glanced down at the tablet, and started to tap away at the screen when it lit up. Unfortunately it was still locked, asking for a six digit code

"That's not going to do anything," Kilo said, rolling his eyes.

The blonde teen looked up at him with a frown, "Do you have a better idea then? The first thing you'd try is muscle your way into it."

Kilo's head whipped back to glare at the other, who simply shrugged with a sly look.

"Like you could do any better surfer boy!" Kilo exclaimed, "At least my head's in the right place and not stuck in the clouds all day. Or should I say waves-"

X-Ray threw his hands up in exasperation. He swiveled around in his chair, nostrils flaring as he exhaled slowly. He pointed at the tablet.

"I gave it to you two thick heads to mess with, not fight over!" he said, voice turning somewhat shrill, "At least go do that somewhere else in the ship or something!"

The teen with glasses swiveled around in his chair, furiously typing once more. Both Bravo and Kilo turned to each other, now getting sheepish at how the other snapped.

The two of them actually got along pretty well, considering how they had know each other the longest compared to the other members of their squad. And normally they'd be making X-Ray's job even harder by distracting him further. But the two of them also knew that the sooner that they contact S.T.O.R.M., the sooner they would be able to go back home.

Somewhat resigned, Bravo turned his attention back to the Core Tablet. He sat down and started punching in a few codes, getting a small beeping noise from the device every time. After at least ten, Bravo scratched his head in thought.

"Geez. I'm surprised this is so complicated," he said. Kilo sat down next to him, peering down at the tablet as well.

"Well I'm guessing it's really complicated, or so simple that the answer is right in front of us... What's his birthday? That's what I'd have as my password."

"Nah. That's too simple," X-Ray said, not looking away from the larger screen, "Besides, I already tried that, and everyone else from Team Core Tech. It's gotta be some obscure number from his childhood or some random code."

Kilo let out a sigh, scratching his head. After a moment, Bravo started typing more numbers. The screech noise went off a few more times until he paused. The blond put a thumb to his lip in thought.

"... When was our trip to Mechanopolis?"

X-Ray paused for a second, brows furrowing in thought, "I think it was in the spring... Late spring... Maybe five months ago? I can't think right now."

Bravo typed a few times, and eventually, the screen unlocked itself. He grinned to himself.

"How'd you know that was the date?" Kilo asked, somewhat suspicious.

"Well. That lovestruck geek seems like the type of guy to have something sentimental be his code," Bravo shrugged, bringing up Zombie Attack Force on the device, "You can't tell me you haven't noticed the way he keeps going after Tango."

Kilo thought for a second, shrugging his shoulders in agreement. They all knew that Bren had an infatuation with their teammate, though often failing at trying to gain her attention. After their mission at Mechanopolis, the raven-haired girl actually started spending more time with the nerd. It was hard to tell if those two would actually end up in a relationship, but none of them were really that interested.

(At least they tried not to be)

Bravo and Kilo played a few rounds of Zombie Attack Force (nearly replacing Bren's score while they did), until X-Ray let out a shout of delight.

"Yes! Got it!" he exclaimed, then flopped back in his seat with a sigh. The other two stood up, looking at the screen as it linked up to the cloud carrier.

"Wow. How'd you figure it out?" Kilo asked.

"I actually ended up redirecting the signal to our cloud hopper," X-Ray said, rubbing his head, "The power was too weak to send a message from here, so I just used the signal from our's to act as a bit of a land line. S.T.O.R.M. should be here in a half hour or so."

"I guess that means we can head back to ours right?" Bravo asked, stretching his arms up. The Core Tablet started to make another beeping noise. The blonde blinked, looking down at it as the other two peeked over as well.

"What's it doing?" Kilo asked, more to X-Ray. The teen took the tablet into his hands, pressing a few times on the screen. Another sound went off that got their attention, though it wasn't the one X-Ray was holding. Kilo grabbed the communicator from his belt, and saw that it was Alpha.

""Yeah Alpha? What happened?" he asked.

"Me and Tango are heading back over to you guys," the static voice said on the other side, "There's... We lost the target. We're coming back to regroup."

"Alright, should we head back to the cloud hopper?" Kilo asked, "X-Ray got a message up to the cloud carrier, they should be here to pick up Team Core Tech's-"

There was a loud banging noise outside that made them all jump.

"Kilo? What was that?"

A group of soldiers burst inside, five of them surrounding the three as more swept throughout the cloud hopper. They raised their weapons.

"All of you! Hands up!"

X-Ray's flew up immediately, dropping the core tablet. The other two hesitated, but complied. The soldier leading looked around the room, then made a hand signal for the rest of the troops to sweep the ship.

"Who are they?" Bravo whispered, cautiously looking around. X-Ray let out a small groan.

"The tactical division of S.T.O.R.M.," he muttered, "They're the ones that recover files and information on monsuno that's been leaked out to the public. Not quite the same as the rest of S.T.O.R.M. that's for sure..."

Before the other two could ask more, the one that was leading the troops gave a few hand signals to the rest of the troops. One of them shouted an all clear, and they removed their helmet.

The teens weren't so surprised that the leader was a woman leading the troops, but were more surprised by the fierce look she was giving them all. With a few small strides, she was leering at the group of teens.

"Where's Team Core Tech? Isn't this their cloud hopper?" she asked. They all hesitated. One of the soldiers called from the front of the ship that it was all clear there as well,

The brunette woman looked to each of them as their eyes dropped to the ground,"Well? I asked you a question soldiers!"

"Shouldn't you know already?" X-Ray sneered with a frown, "It is your job-"

The woman grabbed the front of his suit, nearly yanking him off his feet with one hand.

"What was that?!" she growled, the two of them glaring at each other, "I'm not up for games tonight! Unless you all want to spend some quality time at the Outland's base, then you best fork over Team Core Tech!"

"W-Wait!"

Bravo and Kilo looked towards the entrance to see Alpha and Tango pushing their way inside. Most of the soldiers paid them no attention, instead looking around for something else. Alpha stood by, panting heavily.

"S-Strike Squad Operative Alpha," Alpha huffed out with a salute, then gestured towards the others, "This is my team."

"That was obvious," the woman said, shoving X-Ray roughly towards the other two, "And why is Strike Squad with Team Core Tech's cloud hopper?"

Alpha frowned, off put by the soldier's attitude, "We were sent here by Lieutenant Trey's orders- who reports directly to Commandant Marshall Ace I might add!"

"I don't care about any Lieutenant Trey, seeing how I'm a Commander!" she said with a deep frown, stepping up to the red-haired teen "And you better have a good explanation as to why you're co-conspiring with the enemy! If you're all associates with them then your little field trip is going to be cut short-"

"Commander Akira!" a soldier exclaimed, "We found something in the control panel! It looks to be like some sort of tracker!"

She nodded to them, making motions for the rest of the soldiers to start investigating the control panel. X-Ray glanced down at the floor where he dropped the Core Tablet, scooping it up and hiding it as the woman turned back to them.

"Until we find them, get these five back to the cloud carrier" Akira shouted. Immediately, a round of soldiers surrounded the teens.

"H-Hold on!" Alpha said, stepping out of reach, "Why are you here? What's going on? Why are you trying to scope out the ship when we need to go find Team Core Tech!"

"That's what we're here to do kid!" Akira said with just as much gusto, "And if you're going to just sit around on your hands then get out of the way!"

With that, she turned around and marched off to the rest of the troops who were now halfway done with disassembling the control panel. The group of teens exchanged looks, unsure of what to do. Someone cleared their throat, gaining their attention.

"Don't worry soldiers, you're all dismissed," a voice said to the soldiers guarding the Strike Squad. Shuffling through the crowd was a shorter woman with a single braid swept over her shoulder. She motioned for the group to follow as she trailed out the cloud hopper.

"Sorry for the commander's attitude, she rather high-strung," she said timidly.

"That's an understatement," Kilo huffed.

"W-Well. We weren't planning on being deployed today. But then with that monsuno essence being stolen we had no choice," she explained, a red flush going across the bridge of her nose, "Oh! I'm sorry! I'm Lieutenant Tetsu It's good to finally meet you all!"

She glanced around at them, her expression growing rather grim, "Well... I was wanting to meet you all, but certainly not under these conditions..."

"Conditions?" Alpha asked, "Why what's happened?"

 _"Lieutenant! Get in here!"_ Commander Akira exclaimed, making them all jump.

"C-Coming!" Tetsu called back. She started to run up the ramp, but stopped and turned back around. She pulled a small device with a screen out of her pocket and handed it to Alpha, "I would like to explain, but I think it might be better if you watched for yourselves."

With that, she gave a small bow and went back inside the cloud hopper. The group of teens gathered around Alpha. He handed the device over to X-Ray, knowing he'd be able to open and figure out what they were supposed to look at on the small device.

Sure enough the teen was able to pull up a small video after only a few seconds.

"What is it?" Tango asked, who had been rather quiet the entire time. Bravo stared at her, seeing a troubled look in her eyes briefly. He looked back to the screen.

"It looks like a warehouse," he responded, figuring he was imagining things.

"Wait. That's a S.T.O.R.M. warehouse," Alpha said, "there's containers there for monsuno essence."

X-Ray started to fast forward the video, pausing it every so often in case something happened.

"If this was all we were supposed to see, it's a whole lotta nothing," Kilo sighed. Just as he said that, there was a small explosion at one of the walls, making the camera shake. They all leaned closer, watching silently as a figure ran inside. Whoever it was started taking many of the energy containers and placing them aside.

Soldiers started appearing on screen, bringing up their weapons at the person. They dropped a container, and held up a core. Because of the quality of the footage, there was no way to tell exactly what color the core was, but as soon as it spun out, they all let out a round of gasps at who it was.

Because there was only one person they all knew who had a blue moose-like monsuno.

And they all knew as soon as _she_ ordered an attack.

"Jinja!"

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A/N: Review Review Review!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks to 8491 for the review! I am so sorry that I haven't been updating at all! Beta has been super busy with real life stuff, and I've been real busy with real life stuff. Now that school's out, I should be back on track of updates! (That and I wrote myself into a corner and couldn't figure how to get out).

Enjoy!

* * *

The five of them were sitting back in their cloud hopper, far off towards the warehouses that held the illegal monsuno fighting rings. None of them had words for what they had just witnessed, and not just the tactical division confiscating Team Core Tech's cloud hopper.

No, what bothered them all was the security footage. It was clear evidence that something was going on with Team Core Tech. But to what, none of them were sure.

It _did_ spell out trouble for Team Core Tech, wherever they were.

Alpha was staring down at the small screen in his hand, watching the footage on loop. The others could tell he was trying to find a clue or sign, but by the way his face was set in a hardened expression, there was nothing else to be found.

"... Give it a rest Alpha," Kilo sighed, "It's obvious that Red there turned on S.T.O.R.M."

"You can't be sure of that," Alpha said, not bothering to look up as he replayed the last part of the monsuno fight on the screen.

"Well... It's not like that's fake," X-Ray said, shifting in his seat. As soon as they had gotten back, he had analyzed the authenticity of the footage. All that revealed was the location of where the camera was from (somewhere in the eastern part of the city). And as much as they all hated to admit it, that was really Jinja.

"... What if someone is just looking like her, and they stole Charger?" Alpha suggested, biting his thumb.

"No way. Even if Charger was stolen, it wouldn't be that quick to change orders," Tango said, then looked off to the side, "... Monsuno can tell who's controlling them, no matter what they look like."

She gripped onto Ironjaw's core. That was something that they all knew was true. One of the training exercises they went through as a team was fighting with each other's monsuno. The first time they tried it was a disaster, with half the training bay going up in flames because of it.

It could've just been their inexperience with monsuno, but they all knew that it had deeper then that. And if Team Core Tech understood monsuno bonds more then anyone, then their monsuno would be the least likely to be fooled by some imposter who just _looked_ like them.

Lingering on that last thought, the image of the red-haired girl they were chasing earlier flashed in Tango's memory. She turned to their leader, who was still staring down the video.

"... What's wrong Tango?" Bravo asked, noticing the look she was giving, "You've been really quiet every since the two of you came back. Did you ever find that guy from the fight earlier?"

Alpha tensed, an action barely caught by the rest. When he didn't say anything, Tango let out a sigh.

"We did," she started, "But, then we were ambushed. S-They probably knew about the tracker. There's no other explanation really."

"Well... Did you get any information from them at least?" Kilo asked, "Do you have a clue as to who they are?"

Tango bit her lip, "I remember... They were around X-Ray's height, maybe even shorter... When I was fighting with them I caught sight of their clothes. They were red and black, just like their core."

X-Ray started typing away at their cloud hopper's computer. They could all see on the large screen that he was bringing up the records for Eklipse. He started to browse through the different snapshots of those currently wanted. After typing in Tango's descriptions, he narrowed down their search quite a lot.

"... Is there something else you remember that's specific?" X-Ray asked, brows furrowing as he saw the long list of suspects. The raven haired girl had to think for a moment, trying to remember anything that could give them a clue besides the obvious. Especially with Alpha now staring at her.

"Oh! There was," Tango said, "They wore a mask with a strange symbol on it. I don't know what it could mean though..."

X-Ray glanced around the desk, and grabbed a pen and pad of paper. He handed it to her, and Tango clumsily drew what she saw.

"It kinda looks like a curly letter V," Kilo said, peeking over her shoulder.

"No. It looks like a face. The curves at the end could be eyes and the V part could be a mouth," Bravo added, pointing to the ends and tracing along the bottom.

"Nah. It looks more like the little antenna that my sister drew with her butterflies," X-Ray said on, then snatched the pen from Tango's hand and added onto it, "See? Like this."

Tango raised a brow, and snatched the pen away, furiously tracing the part she drew.

"Well. Anyway," she sighed," this is what it looked like. Is it enough to work with?"

"Not really... But I can try," X-Ray mumbled, taking the paper and swiveling around in his chair. He started typing away again, now going through the multiple files of Eklipse related insignia's. The rest of them sat back in their chairs, waiting in anticipation. Tango looked to Alpha again, who had put the small device away and was now staring intensely at the ground. She really wanted to say something to him, but with the rest of their teammates around, she wasn't sure if he would want that.

At least that was what she remembered about him when it came to secrets.

A sharp blare of music made her jump, and they all turned to Bravo, who was tapping away at the Core Tablet. The music to Zombie Attack Force filled the room. X-Ray banged is forehead on the desk.

"Can you at least turn that _down,"_ he snapped, Bravo ignoring him as he got caught up in the game, "Seriously. I can work through the sound of monsuno fighting but those lazy sound effects are annoying-"

"That's it!" Alpha exclaimed, standing up and startling the rest of them. The game over music sounded off.

"Uh... What's it?" Kilo asked. Alpha walked over to the exit.

"The monsuno fighting ring! Of all the people who would know about new enemies, it would be the people running the illegal fights!" he said, then started pacing around the room. He stopped briefly before going over to the controls of the cloud hopper. The engine hummed alive.

"Uh. Alpha? Where are we going?" Bravo asked.

"Nowhere. Just need to check something on the radar," the red-haired teen responded, then pressed a few buttons on Tango's control panel. A few lights flashed before the screen displayed a single blinking dot in the center.

The other three cast a look to X-Ray, who went back to concentrating on his own work, before going to their leader.

"Are you looking for more monsuno activity?" Kilo asked, "Cause I'm pretty sure we scared everyone off in the arena earlier."

"Not quite. That fight was a little too organized for some run of the mill fight," Alpha said, "And whoever organized it probably has a different meeting spot in the city, or at least a place where all the fighters go to. We just need to find a concentration of monsuno energy. All those cores in one place are bound to have a large signal."

"But would that work? We can't really track monsuno unless they're out of their cores," Bravo said, scratching his head. Alpha stopped briefly. The radar in front of them continued to beep every so often, only their ship visible on it. Alpha turned to Tango.

"... This is your field of expertise," he said, then stood out of the chair, "So... Here."

He gripped on the back of the chair, foot tapping a bit nervously. Tango watched him, expression unreadable. She glanced around to the others for a second before walking towards the exit.

"I want to ask you something first. Alone," she said, walking out without another word.

She knew that he would follow. Especially if her hunch was correct. As she stepped out into the open, Tango couldn't help but let out a sigh. The air was cooler out here, and felt even more refreshing after sitting tensely in the ship. It was short lived, as she heard footsteps behind her.

"... So uh. What did you wanna talk about?" Alpha asked. She turned around and saw him shuffling on his feet. She glanced over his shoulder quickly to make sure no one else had followed.

"I saw who it was," she said, "The one who attacked tonight. The cloak ripped off when we fell down the construction shaft."

Alpha visibly eyes flicked up at her, "Wh-what do you mean? So you know who it is?"

She shook her head, "No. There really was a mask. And I have a feeling that symbol on it must mean something... I doubt that one person can do that much damage alone. But there were certain qualities that were somewhat... Familiar."

"Y-yeah? You think so?" Alpha nodded, pausing briefly as he shuffled on his feet, "Well then... You ought to tell X-Ray so he can narrow his search."

"Do you want me to? Then we have to hunt them down, or turn the information over to the Tactical Force considering how we ought to find Team Core Tech first."

Alpha bit his lip. She was purposely baiting him, trying to get a reaction. It wouldn't take long, he tended to get antsy when he was bothered by something, and impatient. But she was also hoping her hunch was wrong.

"I mean. We ought to find Chase and his gang first right? It makes sense that we complete our mission here," she shrugged.

"Uh... Sure," Alpha said hesitantly, then quickly shook his head, "You're right. We're wasting time. There's really no point in going after her... The strange monsuno can wait."

He was quick to turn around and try to flee back to the ship, but Tango was faster, and seized his arm.

"Don't you want to though? It seems important to you that we find out about these people," she said, "Alpha... Please. I know there's something bothering you about this, and its not just the monsuno we saw."

He continued to stare back at the cloud hopper, not facing her.

"... No," he mumbled, "No. Why would it?"

"Because I never said it was a girl that I saw."

Alpha's head whip around so fast that Tango almost flinched. The panic in his eyes was quick to disappear, replaced by anger. But the raven-haired girl wasn't about to back down.

"... You know who it is don't you?" she asked, more of a statement, as she loosened her grip and let his hand fall back to his side. The sounds from the city seemed far away as they stood there, and made the distance between the two even larger.

"If I tell X-Ray everything... I have to tell him what she looks like," Tango said, growing quiet. Nothing about that girl's appearance was a giveaway for who she was, except for the one quality that she had kept hidden within the cloak.

"... Tango," he finally said, voice calm and steady, "This is an order. Let me take care of this my way. I want you and X-Ray to stay here and track down Jinja and the rest of Team Core Tech. Find out what's going on with them."

She bit her lip, gaze falling. She saw him coming close, and he grabbed her shoulder. Tango looked up, and Alpha gave her a grin.

"I'm trusting you with this," he said, pulling his hand back. Tango looked off to the side, then let out a sigh. Shaking her head, she walked back to the cloud hopper, stopping for a brief second.

"... Alright. But..."

She shook her head again, marching back up the ramp into the ship.

HLP

As he watched Tango trail back into the cloud hopper, the horrible feeling in his gut still churned away. He hated the fact that, even after all these years, he couldn't hold his emotions in check. Way too often had it become a problem in his training, and then again whenever he was facing Chase...

He inhaled deeply, then marched back into the ship. He walked back into the main room, and saw Tango already busying herself with X-Ray by the main computer. Kilo and Bravo were both snickering to each other, the Core Tablet in their hands as they continued to play on it. Alpha cleared his throat.

"Alright. Because of these weird monsuno, we're still gonna track down some of the monsuno controllers from the fight," he said, "X-Ray and Tango will continue to try and track down any activity regards Team Core Tech. While the rest of us go search the city for information-"

"Wow. Didn't think you'd take after Suno so fast," Bravo snorted. Alpha felt his cheeks grow red.

"T-That's not why!" he stammered, "Anyway! We still ought to try and find out who these people are. Unless you two want to wait here and play games for the rest of the night."

X-Ray whipped around in his chair so fast he nearly lost his glasses.

"No! Take them with you!" he pleaded, "The last thing I need is to hear that forsaken battle music again!"

Kilo and Bravo exchanged looks. Bravo set the Core Tablet back down on the nearby counter.

"Sure. I suppose it beats sitting around," Kilo shrugged, then thought for a moment, "So... Where are we supposed to start? We can't search the whole city. That'll take days."

"I already found monsuno activity on the radar," Tango answered, not looking away from the screen she and X-Ray were at, "It's in a unpopular side of the city, so it might be a little rough."

"I'm sure we can handle it," Bravo boasted, then frowned, "But we can't exactly go walking into a place filled with people from Eklipse dressed in our S.T.O.R.M. uniforms."

"... That's true," Alpha said, putting a thumb to his chin in thought. If Chase and his group had an entrance similar to the one during the Spin Go! tournament, then everyone knew that S.T.O.R.M. was in the city. Not to mention how they couldn't exactly start openly dismissing orders and investigate this lead without reporting it..

Just then the teen got an idea, and pulled the other two into one of the large storage rooms. Looking around, he searched for a certain trunk under the many crates and containers.

"We just need a little incognito," he said, then found what he was looking for under one of the counters. After tugging unsuccessfully on the handle, Bravo had to come over and yank it out.

The lid popped open, revealing an assortment of clothes that were both folded and tossed lazily inside. The three immediately started to dig around for something less conspicuous.

"I forgot we had these in here," Kilo said, holding up his old letterman's jacket, "I guess it was a good thing we kept them."

"Never know. We might've needed them a few months ago," Bravo said, pulling a few shirts out trying to find something that would fit.

After a few minutes of throwing off their uniforms into a neat pile on one of the metal trunks, Alpha looked in the mirror at his new appearance. He had forgotten what it felt like to wear casual clothes that weren't heavy with metal. Even in his early days he was required to wear weighted vets under his training gear. He felt lighter, but that hardly did much to the uneasiness in his stomach.

He glanced behind him and saw Bravo and Kilo finishing up on changing. Bravo threw on a grey hoodie with some black shorts that on anyone else would be considered for basketball, but actually were his extra pair of swim trunks. The blonde threw the hood up, tugging at the bottom.

"I must've grown again. This thing is too short," he sighed, raising his arms and watching as he stomach peeked out from under the jacket.

A hand ruffled up Alpha's hair. He let out a surprised grunt, and saw Kilo with a baseball cap on. He tugged the rim down further.

"You might wanna loosen up your hair," he said, "We were both at the fight tonight, you know?"

Alpha frowned, but had to agree. Even though no one had seen them, there was no point in risking it. Looking back in the mirror, he ran his hands through his hair a few times to get the gel out. He hardly had much of a natural part, which meant his hair stuck up oddly at some places. By the way his hair curtained around his face, maybe he needed a haircut...

Blowing a strand out of his face, he turned to the other two, "Alright. Ready to go?"

They were quick to write down the coordinates that Tango had found, and were surprised to see that it was relatively close to the warehouses (but given how seedy the whole area was, that shouldn't have been surprising at all). Despite that, they did their best to try and seem as casual as possible while walking down the streets.

Before they knew it, they were standing in front of a what seemed to be a bar. Shouting could be heard coming from inside.

"... Hey look. They're doing a special on barbecue for monsuno fighters," Kilo said, pointing at one of the banners.

"We don't have time for that," Alpha groaned, hearing all their stomachs growl. Shaking his head, the red-haired teen walked inside.

The place didn't look too shady on the inside. On the contrary, it looked just like any other restaurant besides the many groups exchanging cores and speaking openly about monsuno. Alpha took a deep breath.

"Remember," he whispered, "Try to find a black core."

Being as inconspicuous as they could, the three teens walked further inside. They settled at a table somewhat in the front with clear view of anyone who walked through.

"What's the plan if we do find it?" Bravo asked as they huddled together, "We can't just spin out in front of everyone."

'We'll wing it," Alpha said. A hand tapped his shoulder and he jerked up. A woman stood there with a pad of paper, raising a brow at him.

"Agh. Uh. Sorry!" he said, sitting down. She popped a wad of gum, clicking her pen.

"What'll it be?"

"What? Oh! Uhh..." Alpha stammered, "The-uh. Water!"

She stared at him with a nonplussed look, then to the other two. She clicked her pen and turned on her heel with a exaggerated sigh.

Alpha sank back into his seat sheepishly. He turned to the other two.

"Anyway," he sighed, "Have you guys seen anything yet? Maybe someone who looks a little shady?"

Kilo shook his head, "Nope. Everyone here is suspicious. And I doubt anyone would be showing off a core like the one we saw anyway."

They gave a quick look around, seeing many of the patrons still laughing and exchanging words.

"Hm... Then I suppose we can just get some information and move on," he said, arms folded, "Maybe we can find out where Chase and the others are."

"Who are we supposed to even ask for information?" Bravo asked, "None of these people seem like they're exactly friendly-"

Just then, a crowd in the back started to cheer and whoop. The three exchanged looks before going over. As they came closer, they could see at least two people sitting at the small table in the center. Both Alpha and Kilo tried to peek, but could hardly see anything behind the many fighters as they threw their hands up in cheers.

"... Agh! Can't see anything!" Alpha said, "Bravo, can you see anything?"

Even on his toes, Bravo was barely able to look over everyone's shoulders.

" ... I see a guy, looks like he pumps too much iron. Might be a boxer or something. He's arm wrestling with a girl with blue hair-"

Suddenly, the crowd parted away as the shouting rose. A large body came tumbling by, falling flat on the floor. Everyone turned back to the table to see the tanned girl with light blue hair grinning widely as she cracked her shoulder.

"Nice try there, Sato. But you'll have to do better then that!" she said, picking up a few notes from the table and stuffing them into her pocket. She leaned back in her chair, "Any other takers? Step right up! The first one's free!"

* * *

A/N: Again, I'll try to catch up on writing this week and hopefully get another update out. Review Review Review!


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